Resurrection
by SassySnow1988
Summary: Aftermath of Founder's Day. Anna's dead and Jeremy's a vamp, but what fun would that be? The story of how Anna's brought back and what'll happen between her and a newly vampiric Jeremy. Janna, Stelena, Datherine, Satherine, Delena, etc. Now w/lemon!
1. Chapter One: Death and Rebirth

**Resurrection**

**A/N: **I became totally addicted to _The Vampire Diaries _from the very first ep and the incomparable, hot couple Anna and Jeremy only cemented my addiction. ;-} I HATED that they killed Anna and then made Jeremy attempt turning without her, so I'm just gonna play around with the characters to alleviate some of my sadness about Anna's death and the apparent end of her relationship with Jeremy—which, in my opinion, was one of the most interesting in the show.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own _The Vampire Diaries_ or any of the incredible characters therein. Elyse St. Clair is however of my own invention (don't worry she's only there for plot purposes—this is first and foremost a Janna fic).

**Chapter Rating:** Mature (Language, violence, gore, and some sexuality)

**Written While Under the Influence of: **_The Vampire Diaries _"Founder's Day," Sounds Under Radio-All You Wanted, Robert Skoro-In Line, Stateless-Bloodstream, Alex Band-Only One, Sanders Bohlke-The Weight of Us, Florence + the Machine-Cosmic Love, Ryan Star-Breathe, Enrique Iglesias-Escape, and Leona Lewis-Run.

**Chapter One: Death and Rebirth**

Jeremy Gilbert shuddered on his bed, a chill running up the length of his spine and spreading through his limbs. He felt increasingly sleepy but there was no pain yet, just a mild difficulty breathing as the massive dose of painkillers he'd taken went to work on his muscular frame. The teen tried to pull the sheets up around him to stave off the coldness seeping into his skin, but couldn't budge an inch. For a moment he panicked, heartbeat skyrocketing as he temporarily regretted his quasi-suicidal plan. Jeremy fought to open his eyes, but the lids were too heavy; he almost attempted to scream for Jenna or Elena, then stopped himself.

This would pass, not long from now he'd wake up a vampire and then the damned pain and emptiness inside of him would be gone. Anna's face flickered before his eyes, the agony and terror she'd felt as she was torn away from him, followed by when she'd pleaded with him that morning to escape with her and be turned. The image of her tore at him, he'd wanted so badly to save her but hadn't been able to do a fucking thing for her. Just like Vicki.

The memory of his two loves, both stripped away from him, was too much and he wished that the drugs would hurry up and kill him so he wouldn't have to feel anymore. Jeremy didn't want to forget, he owed Anna and Vicki his memories at least, but he just couldn't deal with the constant loneliness and grief anymore. First his parents, then Vicki, and now Anna… It's like he was cursed to always watch everyone he loved die around him.

His guilt about Anna was exacerbated because he knew that he could've saved her. If he'd just said yes when she asked him to leave with her they'd both be okay and together right now. She wouldn't be dead and he wouldn't be becoming a vampire by himself.

The last coherent thought Jeremy had before the lethal lethargy pulled him under was of the last time he'd had Anna in his bed and she'd called him her weakness. He couldn't escape how breathtakingly beautiful she'd looked that night. Or how right she'd been, how horribly right. With that thought he surrendered to the siren's call of sleep, not noticing or caring how shallow and erratic his breathing had become.

XXX

Katherine jerked her head toward the front door at the eerie sound of her own voice calling, "Jeremy? You up?"

She frowned at the slowly dying form of Johnathan Gilbert shoved up against the stove before her, her doppelgänger appearing now complicated things. The female vampire wrenched the butcher knife out of his abdomen and plunged it deep within his chest, twisting it for good measure. He gurgled one last time, blood dribbling out his mouth and onto the sleeve of her stolen leather jacket.

Katherine grimaced, she actually liked that jacket; at least her double had acceptable taste in clothes if not men. She let Johnathan drop onto the floor with a loud thud, then sped over to the kitchen island, pulled the ring from his severed ring finger, and turned to leave just as Elena entered the room. The young woman staggered back in shock at the sight of a mirror image of herself, then clasped her hands over her mouth in horror as she noticed the bloody corpse on the floor.

The brunette vampire raised an inquisitive eyebrow at her human twin; she'd watched her from a distance most of the day and had questioned Isobel extensively about the young woman's mannerisms so that she could accurately portray Elena Gilbert, but now was the first opportunity she'd had to observe her up close. Seemingly satisfied with the extent of resemblance between them, she finally approached her twin.

"Hello, Elena," Katherine purred, a mischievous smile curving her lips.

"Katherine?" Elena choked out, eyes flickering between the vampire and body of her birth father sprawled in a growing puddle of his own blood on the kitchen tile.

"So they told you about me, that's…_interesting_. I would've thought Stefan wouldn't want you to know about me."

"You killed him… Why?" the young woman gasped in confusion, recoiling backwards to put as much space between herself and the advancing vampire as possible.

"Why not?" Katherine shrugged. "Johnathan had served his purpose and he was a liability from the beginning. He hates all vampires, so what's to stop him from coming after me next?" At Elena's look of revulsion comingled with sadness, she laughed and continued sarcastically, "Oh, don't tell me you were starting to feel all daughterly toward him?"

"Elena? I heard a noise, is everything okay?" Jenna interrupted, starting down the stairs.

"I'll take that as my cue to leave. Until we meet again, _Elena_," Katherine whispered ominously as she strode past the younger woman at vampire speed, lightly brushing the dark hair off her double's shoulder as she went.

Hearing the front door close, Elena slumped back against the wall, sliding down it to the floor and staring blankly at the pained expression fixed in death on her father's face. She was barely aware of Jenna's high-pitched shriek through the shock of losing her birth father and meeting Katherine all at once.

XXX

Katherine trotted down the porch steps, pocketing Johnathan Gilbert's ring along the way, when a hand shot out and clamped around her throat. She was abruptly shoved up against a tree as the fingers encircling her neck tightened like a vice. Her fangs instantly descended in response to the threat, a feral hiss escaping her lips. She found herself glaring up into the livid face of Damon Salvatore, his own fangs bared.

"What the hell were you doing in there?" Damon growled without preamble, using his other hand to force her back against the tree when she tried to move toward him.

"Just having a little chat with Johnathan Gilbert," she panted in response, wrapping her fingers around Damon's wrist and squeezing.

His face contorted in pain, but he didn't loosen his grip. Katherine brought her other hand up in a flash and backhanded him, sending him flying across the front yard. Damon instantly sprung back to his feet only to be knocked down again. He glared up at his vampire maker, the veins trailing from his eyes darkening with fury, as she stepped onto both his upper arms to keep him pinned to the ground, then crouched on his chest.

"Damon, Damon, Damon…how many times have we played this game? You may be a vampire now, but I'm still the one that will always win," she whispered cruelly, bringing her face so close to his that their noses touched.

"That was you on the porch earlier, wasn't it?"

"Got it in one. But I must say I'm shocked that you'd go for little Miss Goody Two-Shoes in there. You always liked them naughtier, if I remember correctly." Katherine smirked down at him.

"Let me up," he demanded.

"Now why would I do that? You attacked me," she asked, playfully quirking her head to the side.

"And if I do it again, you'll just bitch-slap me back here again," Damon retorted caustically.

"True, but I'm not done talking to you yet and this conversation will be a lot more fun horizontal," Katherine murmured, letting her hands trail lightly down his chest.

"What could you possibly have to say to me after 145 years?"

She brought her lips right in line with his, so that they brushed against each other's with every word. "Stay out of my affairs, Damon Salvatore. If you interfere with me and mine again, I will kill your new little girlfriend in there and send you a different piece of her every year. Oh, one last thing, don't _ever_ call me a bitch again."

With that Katherine pressed her mouth to his.

XXX

_New Orleans, Louisiana_

Elyse St. Clair jolted awake from an extremely vivid nightmare, a scream welling up in her throat. She scrutinized the skin of her arms in the meager pre-dawn light filtering through the curtains, certain her flesh would still be on fire, but only unblemished pale skin met her gaze. Her hands flew to the center of her chest where she expected to find the wooden stake impaling her. She breathed a momentary sigh of relief as she realized it was just a dream and pushed herself out of bed.

The petite brunette padded over to her dresser and grimaced at the reflection of her sweat-soaked face in the mirror. Elyse ran her fingers through her long dark hair, trying to make sense of the nightmare. She'd been in a basement somewhere and this guy with a gaudy ring had stabbed her with a stake then set her on fire. It was odd and awfully specific even by her usual standards.

Elyse pulled her wild hair into a sloppy ponytail and started toward the bathroom to take a shower when something caught her eye.

A light was pouring out of the top drawer of her bureau.

Her heart pounded furiously as she eased the creaking mahogany drawer open. The light emanated from an antique silver necklace with a deep ruby stone set in the center. She touched it hesitantly and was immediately bombarded with images and sensations.

_A tall, handsome young man with floppy hair giving her an adorable grin as he pulled her close. The thrill and hunger of his kiss. The warmth of his skin beneath her fingertips. _

_The shrieking agony between her temples followed by that tell-tale acidic burn of vervain in her veins. _

_An older man looming over her holding a long wooden stake._

"_Please…don't…" _

_The explosion of pain as the stake pierced her chest and the feel of her life slipping away. The heat of the flames destroying her flesh._

_The last thought in her mind before the darkness consumed her was of him. Jeremy…_

Elyse came back to herself with a start, the necklace clasped between her fingers so hard that it left impressions in her skin.

"Anna… Oh God, no…"

XXX

_Mystic Falls, Virginia_

Jeremy bolted upright in bed. His senses were the most alert they'd ever been in his life. Every noise seemed amplified and pounded directly into his eardrums. His breathing sounded like the howling wind on a stormy night as it whooshed rapidly in and out of his lungs. Everything around him looked sharper and clearer, as though for the past sixteen years he'd been watching the world through a dirty film that was finally gone.

But an acute ache had settled into his stomach. He was hungrier than he ever remembered being and there was something nearby that smelled _so_ good. Jeremy breathed deeply, trying to locate the delicious scent. It originated from downstairs and the teen immediately headed in that direction. He inhaled again at the foot of the stairs and turned into the kitchen. Elena and Jenna were huddled together on the floor by the door, but he ignored them. He followed his nose toward the stove and almost tripped over his uncle's foot.

Jeremy jumped back from Johnathan's corpse in horror, but another part of him longed to kneel and lap at the crimson fluid pooled on the floor. Disgusted, he backpedaled until he slammed into the island, sending various pieces of silverware clattering across the tile.

Jenna glanced up at him, panic and sympathy in her face as she murmured, "Oh my God, Jer. I'm so sorry."

His gaze flicked to Elena and he could see the recognition in her tear-filled eyes. She _knew_. He turned on his heel and darted out the back door, paying no heed to Jenna's attempts to call him back.

Jeremy sprinted down the street, putting as much distance between him and Elena's knowing brown eyes as possible. He had no idea where he was going or even what he planned on doing once he got there, he just wanted to get away. This was not what Anna and Damon had told him it would be. The pain was still churning around inside him, it just had a new bedfellow now: hunger. He couldn't bring himself to feed on the blood of his uncle, even if he'd been the one to kill Anna and her mother.

He found himself abruptly and completely enraged at Uncle John. If the bastard weren't already dead, he'd have killed him himself. Jeremy wanted to tear his heart out and make him watch as he drained the blood from it.

_Where the hell did that come from?_ he thought, frustrated.

Jeremy needed to know more about what was going on inside him. Immediately. But who could he go to? Anna had told him she could teach him about being a vampire, but she was gone. The mere thought of Anna sent an explosion of agony so acute through his chest that it nearly stopped him in his tracks. Jeremy forced himself to keep running, although all he wanted to do was curl up on the ground and let the grief have him. The running was harder to do, but it helped on some level. The sensory overload of the scenery flashing by almost blotted out the image of Anna's beautiful face. Her impish smile, those soulful brown eyes…her soft, full lips… He shook his head roughly to banish the painful vision of the girl he'd all but killed himself.

Despite his attempts, his imagination conjured up an image of Anna lying defenseless and terrified while his uncle shoved a stake through her heart; the visualization fueled by Damon's earlier confession to him.

Then it hit him. Jeremy knew exactly where to go now. He instantly changed course and pounded his feet faster on the pavement.

He was going to Damon.

**A/N:** That's all for now! I wanna see how well received the direction I'm taking the story works before I get too invested in it—I have 2 other ongoing fics that I haven't worked on in awhile and my readers there are about ready to kill me if I don't get back to work soon. But if you like this story, speak up! I'll be very tempted to write on this instead. ;-} How are my characterizations so far? Writing Katherine was fun, but I'm not sure I did her justice. I also felt iffy about how to portray Damon and Jeremy as well; their motivations in the scenes I wrote were a little vague for me. Anna hasn't appeared yet, but never fear; the story is called _Resurrection_ for a reason… ;-}

Please, please, please review!

Thanks for reading!

Sassy18


	2. Chapter Two: Enter the Shadows

**Resurrection**

**A/N:** Holy rusted-metal Batman! lol I can't believe all the favs and alerts I got with just one chapter! The reviews were great as well, a lil terse but still very nice. Thanks so much for giving me some feedback on my insane brainchild of a fic! :-) I can't take much credit though, the supreme acting talents of Ian Somerhalder, Nina Dobrev, Paul Wesley, and of course, Steven R. McQueen and Malese Jow are the sources of my inspiration for the characters. Although, I discovered an _interesting_ performance of Nina's in the film _Never Cry Werewolf_. ;-} If you enjoy incredibly bad acting and crappy creature-features I highly recommend checking this out, it gave me a lot of laughs on a Saturday morning while studying for finals.

**Disclaimer:** Still don't own any part of _The Vampire Diaries_, but I plan on buying the DVD and soundtrack as soon as they come out. ;-} Caleb Arceneaux, like Elyse St. Clair, is mine though.

**Chapter Rating:** Mature (Language, violence, gore, and some sexuality)

**Special Thanks:**

**People who alerted my story:** Gossipacholic101, barcodestripped, CHIBI-CRAZY, Ria-Dancer Girl, Lunatic Silver, simonetta, Pagan-Angel13, Sherrielynne, Salcyra, and Terapsina.

**People who favorited my story:** AngelicParadox91, barcodestripped, CHIBI-CRAZY, Ria-Dancer Girl, allison lightning, and billy the zomby z.

**People who reviewed:** Gossipacholic101, CHIBI-CRAZY, Ria-Dancer Girl, Hals'TeamAnna'Mals, Pagan-Angel13, allison lightning, and billy the zomby z.

**Written While Under the Influence of:** Red-Shadows, The Airborne Toxic Event-Sometime After Midnight, Snow Patrol-Open Your Eyes, Red-Confession (What's Inside My Head), Neurosonic-Fearless, Avenged Sevenfold-Scream, Crossfade-Everything's Wrong, Crossfade-Breathing Slowly, Celldweller-Own Little World (Remorse Code Remix), Five Finger Death Punch-Walk Away, and Dead By Sunrise-End of the World (Out of Ashes).

**Chapter Two: Enter the Shadows **

Jeremy slowed his frantic run as he reached the steps of the Salvatore boarding house. He pounded on the heavy, dark wood paneled door and waited all of five seconds before yanking on the bell rope hard enough to almost dislodge it from the brick wall. Still receiving no answer, he resumed his pounding on the door.

"Damon! Open up!" Jeremy shouted in between bouts of slamming his fist against the door.

He'd just about given up and was mentally debating how pissed off Damon would get if he broke a window to get inside, when the door abruptly swung inward. The action was so fast the teen barely had time to regain his balance and stop himself from toppling onto the floor. Jeremy almost wished he'd allowed himself to face plant as the lights from inside the house stabbed into his retinas like ice picks.

"This had better be _extremely_ important, Jeremy. I'm a little busy," Damon muttered, standing shirtless in the doorway.

He eyed Damon warily, the mussed hair and bare chest letting him know exactly what the vampire had been doing. Shaking his head to clear the disturbing mental image, Jeremy focused on why he was there.

"I need to talk to you about something."

"Can it wait until a time when I don't…" Damon trailed off as he finally noticed how jittery the younger Gilbert was and that he retreated to the shadows to avoid looking into the light. His facial expression instantly shifted from mild annoyance to deathly serious. "Get inside now," he instructed, grabbing Jeremy by the shoulder and forcibly hauling him into the house.

"You stupid, selfish bastard!" the vampire hissed angrily, slamming the door shut and turning violently on the teenager. "After everything that's happened, you drank vampire blood! Do you have any idea what the hell you've just done to yourself? What you've done to _Elena_?"

"Not everything is about Elena! And _you_ told me it'd be easier this way!" Jeremy shot back, his newly explosive temper revealing itself.

"I didn't think you'd be stupid enough to actually try turning! You know what it did to Vicki. How'd you even get the blood? Stefan and I are the only vampires left in town and neither of us would ever give you any," Damon demanded, pacing a tight line on the carpet.

"Anna," was the simple response.

"Damn it, Jeremy, you are a complete pain in the ass," the black-haired Salvatore laughed humorlessly. He scrubbed his hands hard over his face, blue eyes flickering rapidly about as if looking for inspiration. "Have you fed yet?"

"No, is that why I feel so weird?"

"Weird how?" Damon folded his arms over his chest and scrutinized him intently.

"I keep getting really angry about things. And I wanted to…_hurt_…my uncle and drink his blood," Jeremy reluctantly confessed, clenching his fists at the memory, then realizing he had no idea how Johnathan had died in his kitchen.

"That's part of turning. Everything is a lot more intense, you can't control your emotions right off the bat. You'll have to stay away from anyone that's going to trigger strong feelings: love, lust, hate, all that. But first, you need to feed and fast. How long ago did you die?"

Jeremy was momentarily shocked by the odd question but recovered, "Um, maybe half an hour ago."

"Okay, wait here. I'll be back in a minute," Damon ordered, staring stonily into the teen's face to impress upon him the seriousness of the situation.

XXX

Damon cursed under his breath the entire way back to his bedroom. Jeremy Gilbert really would be the death of him; he couldn't very well let the dumbass die—it'd crush Elena—but helping her brother become a vampire wouldn't exactly endear him to her either. And things between them had been going so well…

"What was that all about?" Katherine inquired from his bed, a thin sheet drawn up to cover her nakedness.

This _definitely_ wouldn't help.

"Nothing you need to worry about. Sorry, but someone else gets to use me tonight instead of you," Damon replied sarcastically, shooting her a wry grin over his shoulder as he searched the floor for his shirt.

She pouted at his dismissal, but crawled across the bed, dragging the sheet with her. Damon finally spotted his shirt hanging off a lamp shade and hastily retrieved it. Katherine stepped in front of him as he pulled it on, intentionally holding the sheet tantalizingly low over her breasts and giving him the look that'd never failed to make him melt. Damon pointedly ignored both sights she offered him, focusing instead on tying his boot laces. Just as he finished and stood, Katherine wrapped her arms around his neck, forcing him to meet her gaze.

"Would you really rather spend the night with some guy or _me_?" she murmured softly, twining the hair at the nape of his neck around her fingers.

The female vampire peered up at him from beneath her lowered lashes, soft dark hair curling around her angelic face like a demented halo. Damon controlled his expression, he wanted nothing more than to spend the night with her, he'd dreamed of little else for 145 years. But with what he knew of Katherine now—namely that she hadn't been imprisoned in a tomb all that time waiting for his valiant rescue, instead she'd been perfectly fine and avoiding him—he wouldn't give her the satisfaction of knowing how much she affected him. Sex was one thing, but he'd be damned before he let Katherine Pierce worm her way back into his heart.

"Somehow I think I'd be better off with him," Damon retorted coldly.

"I don't know what you've been doing over the past century and a half, but I didn't think men were suddenly on your menu," she shot back. "I know you've missed me, Damon, and believe it or not I've missed _this_," Katherine pressed against him suggestively, making it abundantly clear that their closeness was the only thing holding up the sheet, "but if you'd rather go 'fishing' with your buddy downstairs, be my guest."

Maybe he could just scrounge Jeremy up a blood packet and lock him in the cellar for the night, Damon thought momentarily, but immediately rebuked himself for it. This was his mess and he had to clean it up, scantily clad vampire seductresses be damned.

But before he could escape, Katherine shifted in his arms and the sheet slipped to the floor between them.

"Oops," she breathed against his chin, smirking victoriously as she pulled him toward her for a kiss.

He crushed her nude form against him as their mouths moved hungrily against each other, tongues brushing and stroking. Damon eventually broke the kiss, resting his forehead against hers.

"Tempting…but not your best work, Katherine. I don't know what you've been doing over the past century and a half, but I've definitely had better," he whispered callously.

The elder Salvatore released her abruptly, delighting in the insulted expression on her face before strolling to the door, snagging his trademark black leather jacket on the way.

"Oh, Damon," Katherine called as he reached the doorway, berry colored lips curling into that man-eating grin again, "your fly's open."

XXX

Stefan Salvatore stared up at the clock in the hospital hallway for the fifth time that minute as he worked a rut into the black and white checkerboard pattern linoleum with his pacing. Elena had told him on the phone to wait for her here over an hour ago. He'd called her twice to see what the holdup was and got her voicemail both times. He didn't want to jump to the conclusion that something bad had happened—she'd said she wanted to talk to Jeremy first, maybe they were finally having a real talk and he didn't want to interrupt that—but with everything that'd already occurred tonight, Elena being in danger wouldn't exactly be an outlandish scenario.

With every minute that passed and she didn't walk in the door, he had to fight the urge to go running to her house. The only thing that kept him in the hospital was the nagging thought that he might be smothering her. Stefan was sure Elena had noticed his jealousy over her friendship with Damon, and combined with all the sacrifices she'd made for her boyfriend recently—allowing him to drink her blood, talking him out of his suicidal guilt after he began detoxing from human blood, to name a few—he felt like he might be overwhelming her. He had to give her some space to breathe or risk losing her.

Stefan already had Damon trying to throw as many monkey wrenches into their relationship as possible, he really didn't need to sabotage things himself.

Growling in frustration, he resigned himself to staying put in the hospital as Elena had asked. At least for another twenty minutes, he decided. After that he'd rather seem like an overbearing boyfriend than allow any harm to come to her. Stefan stopped his pacing, opting instead to lean rigidly against the wall with his hands stuffed deep in his jeans' pockets. He'd just checked the clock again as Elena entered the glass hospital doors.

Feeling all worry lift off him, Stefan immediately approached her, a relieved smile breaking across his face. She didn't look up as he came toward her, eyes focusing on the floor as she walked dazedly into the hospital.

"Elena?" he called to get her attention, confusion and panic knitting his brows together.

She glanced up, expression blank as though she hadn't realized anyone else was even around her. "Stefan? What're you doing here?"

"You asked me to meet you here on the phone earlier. Are you all right?" he asked, placing his hands lightly on her shoulders and letting his eyes scan her quickly, searching for injuries. Finding none, he focused on her face, instantly recognizing pain and sorrow in her gaze.

"No. Katherine was at the house…" she murmured softly.

Stefan was dumbstruck a moment, then a frisson of anger coursed through him. "Did she do anything to you?" he demanded, hands tightening on her shoulders.

Elena winced slightly at the pressure on her upper arms, and he immediately loosened his hold, but she still responded to his question. "Not to me. She killed Johnathan. She killed my father, Stefan."

Tears filled her vision once again and a sob welled up in her throat as soon as she finished speaking.

Wordlessly, he pulled her into an embrace and she gratefully buried her face in his chest. She wasn't sure if it was the comfort of his arms, the soothing words he whispered, or just the shock finally wearing off, but this time she allowed herself to cry openly. At the house, tears had formed and a few had even slipped down her cheeks, but Elena hadn't really been able to process everything, it'd all happened too fast.

As if almost seeing Damon and Stefan die in the fire earlier that night wasn't bad enough, she'd met her vampire twin—who'd just murdered her father—and Jeremy had turned. She didn't have much concrete evidence of that last one, but her instincts told her it was true. The way he'd reacted to the blood on the floor, swallowing convulsively like someone in the desert at the sight of water instead of screaming or trying to call for help, said it all.

Stefan rubbed soft circles into her back as he led her over to a bench, never releasing her. She wasn't sure how long they sat there, her weeping and him holding her, but finally no more tears came to her eyes. He didn't let her go immediately, instead he waited until the sobs stopped shaking her frame before allowing Elena to pull slightly back.

"Do you feel up to telling me what happened?" he questioned gently, staring seriously into her eyes.

She nodded weakly, wiping her nose on the back of her hand. "I came home and Katherine was in the kitchen with Johnathan. She'd stolen my clothes, I guess to get invited in the house, and she'd stabbed him to death," her voice wavered as she related how her father had died and Stefan took her hand, squeezing it slightly in a silent gesture of comfort.

Elena breathed deeply, willing the tears and sobs away, and continued, "She said he'd 'served his purpose' and that he was dangerous because he hates vampires so much. That's why she killed him."

"Katherine didn't say anything else to you? Didn't threaten you?" Stefan lightly prodded.

"No, she didn't threaten me in so many words. She did say we'd meet again though," Elena replied confusedly, looking up at her boyfriend for some sort of insight.

Stefan remained silent but she noticed his jaw clench tightly.

"That's not all that happened," she began, reluctant to voice her thoughts, as though speaking them aloud would make her fears come true. "Jeremy acted strange. When he saw the blood on the floor, he looked at it like he wanted to…drink it."

Elena could feel his body tense at her words before he asked, "Did he?"

"No, he ran off. But I think he's…going through what Vicki did," she dropped her voice to a whisper at the end for fear of being overheard.

"Any idea where he would go?"

She shook her head miserably.

"Don't worry, Elena," he assured her, pulling her into his arms again. "I'll find Jeremy."

"And when you do, then what? There're only two options, right?"

"I know," Stefan sighed into her hair.

"I can't lose him too, Stefan," she said, tilting her head back to meet his eyes.

"You won't," he promised, pressing a light kiss to her forehead.

XXX

"Where are we going?" Jeremy demanded from the passenger seat of Damon's 1969 SS Chevrolet Camaro convertible as they sped toward the outskirts of Mystic Falls.

"To get you something to eat," Damon replied vaguely, eyes never leaving the road.

"I have to kill someone, right?" the younger occupant of the vehicle asked uneasily.

"No, just feeding on human blood will do it."

"Then why are we driving all the way out here? We could just grab somebody in town," Jeremy wondered aloud.

"Because your first time you will be tempted to kill who you feed on and this town has had enough vampire excitement for one night. Unless you wanna get caught and join Anna and the others," Damon joked, grinning insincerely.

"_Don't_ talk about her," Jeremy growled angrily.

"Or what, little vampire-in-training? You'll kick my ass? Helpful tip: older vampires are always stronger. I've got 145 years on you and your emo-attitude, so shut up and do what I tell you. I'm only helping you for Elena's sake. And maybe Anna's too, she wasn't so bad near the end."

Damon could see Jeremy's fists clench atop his knees beside him at his reference to Anna's death and decided to ease up on the taunting.

The kid had had a pretty rough go of it lately, most of which had been Damon's fault, either directly or indirectly. The caustic wave of guilt that welled up in his chest almost surprised him; he'd felt the emotion far too often of late for his liking. Turning Vicki had indisputably been one of the cruelest actions he'd done to affect Jeremy, but not being able to intervene when Johnathan Gilbert staked Anna bothered him more than he wanted to admit.

Not that the kid would be getting another apology out of him any time soon. Damon figured walking Jeremy through the turning process and making sure he didn't do any lasting damage to himself or vampires at large would karmically balance everything out.

They drove in silence until Damon whipped the arctic blue Camaro into the gravel parking lot of a bar he knew far, _far_ off the beaten path. It was a ramshackle building entirely hidden from view by a grove of towering old live oaks that grew along the entrance, making it invisible to all who didn't already know where it was. The patrons of the place dabbled in much harder and more illicit substances than mere alcohol on the premises and were understandably a bit reluctant to call the police for any reason, which had been a major deciding factor in Damon choosing it. That and junkies never really gave the most detail-oriented descriptions of attackers.

"Here's what's gonna happen," the vampire began, parking then killing the engine, "I'm heading in there to find you someone and you'll wait in the car until I come get you."

Jeremy nodded grimly and stared straight ahead, clearly not looking forward to the next part of the turning process. Having no comforting remark conveniently in mind, Damon left the car and silently strode into the bar.

XXX

Stefan sped through the front door of his house and shouted, "Damon?"

He'd already checked Elena's house, the graveyard, Mystic Grill, the high school, and the woods for Jeremy and found nothing. He would rather not involve Damon in this, but if Jeremy truly was transitioning into a vampire Stefan needed all the help he could get to contain this, especially another vampire. Getting no response, he trekked throughout the house searching his brother's favorite spots—the liquor sideboard and Damon's bedroom topping the list—only to find them empty.

Perfect. Damon would be out the one time Stefan actually wanted to see him.

He dug his cell phone out of his jeans and was about to dial Damon's number when a noise from his own bedroom interrupted him. Thinking Damon had decided to redecorate for him again, he stalked upstairs to his room. Instead of finding his older brother tearing his bedroom apart, he discovered Katherine, clad in jeans and a low-cut long-sleeved shirt, standing beside his desk, intently examining her own photograph.

Completely unprepared for her presence, he skidded to a stop just inside the doorway.

She glanced up at his entrance, purple-pink lips curving into a smirk. "Harboring fond memories of us, Stefan?" Katherine inquired, holding up the picture of herself from 1864 as evidence.

"'Fond' is hardly how I'd describe it, Katherine," Stefan bit out, forcibly tamping down his anger about her encounter with Elena.

"Ooh, how surly time away from me has made you two," she cooed, dropping the photo on the desk and circling around it toward him. "And to think you once promised to love me forever."

"That was before I knew who you really were," he shot back, taking a step away from her for every one she took in his direction.

"You almost got me locked away for 145 years in that tomb with the others and _you_ want to get all holier-than-thou with _me_?" Katherine retorted, a sliver of anger marring her beautiful features. But just as quickly as the ire had come, it melted back to amusement a moment later.

"That's just your father talking, I'm sure. I wanted so badly to tear his throat out for what he did to me, but then I found out that you got to him first," she laughed then, tossing her head back with mirth. "Feeding on your own father to turn…that was so _impressive_. I never would've thought you'd have it in you, Stefan."

He dropped his head in shame, then jerked it back up as he felt Katherine flit across the room and stop right in front of him. She linked her arms around his neck and closed the remaining distance between their bodies. He leaned as far away from her as possible, knowing he couldn't break her grip on him unless she wanted him to—which she clearly didn't.

"I met Elena today," she whispered. "She's not exactly like me, but it's still pretty flattering that you picked a girl that's my mirror image to fall in love with."

"Elena is _nothing_ like you, Katherine," Stefan snarled.

"Except the being my twin part," the female vampire chuckled. "But she does remind me a bit of myself when I was human. I wonder what she'd be like as one of us…" Katherine mused sadistically.

"Don't you dare touch her," he hissed, eyes darkening and fangs barred.

"You'd be willing to die for her?" she asked, surprised. "Hmmm, maybe she is more like me than I gave her credit for."

"What do you mean?" Stefan demanded.

"Just that she's got both you and Damon wrapped around her fingers like I did back in 1864," Katherine said, eyes wide in an expression of pseudo-innocence.

"She and Damon are only friends," he replied almost automatically.

"Really? Do 'friends' here kiss each other good night with tongue?" she questioned with feigned ignorance, reveling in the pained expression her words brought to Stefan's face.

XXX

Jeremy was practically hyperventilating when Damon finally exited the bar with a petite brunette in tow. She tripped over her own feet and almost fell, giggling hysterically at herself as he righted her and led her away from the bar; her actions clearly expressing her inebriated state. Damon caught Jeremy's gaze and motioned for him to join them. The teen took a deep breath to calm himself then opened the passenger door and walked toward the couple.

"Tiffany, this is my friend, Jeremy. Jeremy, meet Tiffany," Damon handled the introductions, gesturing between them with one hand while the other remained on the woman's arm to keep her steady.

"You're cute," she sniggered, eyeing the younger man with open appreciation.

Jeremy shifted his weight uncomfortably under her scrutiny, shoving his hands into his pockets instinctively.

"So where're we gonna do this?" Tiffany asked abruptly, looking from Damon to Jeremy and back.

"Just a little ways over here," Damon replied with a smile, steering her away from the bar toward the shelter of the surrounding trees.

"Does she know what's going to happen?" Jeremy demanded harshly, eyes wide with shock.

"She thinks we're going to sell her drugs," the vampire whispered quickly before escorting the drunken woman across the gravel lot.

Jeremy followed dutifully behind them, apprehension building with every step as the reality of what he was about to do fully dawned on him. When they reached the oak grove, Tiffany clawed at her purse, laughing at her own clumsiness as she attempted to remove her wallet. "So whaddya got?" she eagerly inquired of Damon.

"He's the one that's got the stuff." Damon nodded toward Jeremy and the woman turned to him.

The instant her back was to him, the vampire pounced. Jeremy looked on as Damon's eyes darkened, veins branching out across his lower lids, and his fangs descended. He forced himself to keep watching as Damon bit into the woman's neck, hand clamping over her mouth to smother any cries. She stiffened in his arms with the initial strike, then struggled once fear set in, her wide brown eyes boring imploringly into Jeremy's own. After a few moments, her resistance became increasingly feeble and Damon removed his hand from her mouth.

The vampire lifted his face to Jeremy, blood glistening on his lips, and held the limp woman out to him.

"Your turn."

Jeremy hesitated, warring with himself. The scent of her blood called to him, promising to quench the ache in his stomach, but the same nagging humanity that'd prompted him to refuse Anna's offer to escape Mystic Falls with her was revolted at the prospect of drinking that poor woman's blood.

"She's not going to stay quiet for much longer," Damon interrupted his thoughts.

The teen reached out and pulled her into his arms, her head lolling back and eyes fluttering. As her dark locks spread across his forearm, Jeremy was reminded of how Anna's hair had fanned out over his chest and sheets when they'd slept together. He scrunched his eyes shut as the memory sent a fresh rush of agony through him. Once again the blood enticed him and this time he succumbed to it, wanting—_needing_—to drown the pain out.

He cradled the woman's limp body to his chest and locked his lips over the bite on her neck. His taste buds exploded as the blood touched them, not with the usual tangy metallic taste of the fluid that he remembered but with a whole new flavor. It was better than anything he'd ever had before. Drugs, sex, even a combination of the two, nothing had satisfied like this. Jeremy tightened his grip on her, bringing her throat to a better angle as he sucked harder on the wound, drawing more delicious blood into his mouth. A sudden pain shot through his gums, but he ignored it, too focused on drinking.

It seemed like a mere moment later that Damon was drawing him away from the woman's neck. He fought to keep going, but was no match for the older vampire's strength. Jeremy glared at the other man as he turned the woman in his arms.

"Tiffany, wake up. Look at me," Damon commanded, giving her a slight shake. Once she opened her eyes, he stared intently into them. _"You got high, had a great trip, and now we're going to take you to your car. You're too wasted to drive, call a cab and go home. You fell and hurt your neck trying to walk across the lot, so I'm going to carry you. The wound isn't that bad, but make sure you bandage it up when you get home. Keep the mark hidden until it heals. And you won't remember either of us after we leave."_

"Okay," she sighed dreamily, instantly relaxing against him.

Damon picked her up and started back to the parking lot with her smiling in his arms.

"That was the compulsion thing, right?" Jeremy asked, hurrying after them.

"Yes, I'll teach you how to do it to cover your tracks," Damon replied. "You might wanna wipe that blood off your mouth," he pointed out as he unlocked the door to Tiffany's car, eased the woman down onto the backseat and placed her cell phone in her hand.

Jeremy spied his reflection in the window; momentarily stunned by the sight of his newly red eyes and the elongated canines in his mouth, he forgot the blood on his lips. Instead he experimentally traced over the veins trailing down his cheekbones, jumping at the sensation it caused.

"Don't worry, it's obviously not permanent." Damon gestured to his own face. "It'll go away in a minute."

Jeremy jogged after the other vampire as he strode toward where his Camaro was parked, licking his lips instead of wiping them. The ache hadn't left his stomach entirely, but it was muted now. The best part was he was too distracted by everything around him and all the impending knowledge he had yet to learn to brood about Anna and his pain.

"I wanna know everything I can do," Jeremy announced as he slid into the passenger seat.

"One thing at a time, young Jedi," Damon smirked at the teen's eagerness; he liked this version of the younger Gilbert a lot better than the whiny emo-teen.

XXX

_New Orleans, Louisiana_

Elyse barely noticed when her apartment door opened and her boyfriend, Caleb Arceneaux, entered, juggling his keys and two large cups of coffee as he kicked the door shut behind him.

"Elyse, _chérie__, _what's all dis?" he asked, confusedly regarding all the lit candles and circled pentagram she'd drawn in chalk on the floor at the foot of their bed.

"Something happened t' Anna," she replied distractedly from her kneeling position on the floor, flipping rapidly through an old leather-bound book.

"Anna? We haven't heard from her in ages," Caleb said, handing her a coffee cup—which she immediately set aside.

Finding the page she sought, Elyse read through it carefully twice and then reached for the athamé she'd placed next to the pentagram. Chanting quietly, the brunette sliced the tip of her index finger lightly, hissing momentarily in pain, but never stopping her recitation. She gripped the ruby amulet dangling from the silver chain she now wore tightly with her other hand and held her bleeding one above a blank piece of paper. The candles around her on the floor flickered and the stone glowed dimly between her fingers, the crimson light it cast rivaling the bright color of the blood dripping from her finger to the paper.

She finished chanting and peered through the candlelight at the paper. Faintly scrawled in blood on the page were the words: _"Grayson Gilbert, M.D. Mystic Falls, Virginia."_

Caleb quirked his head to the side to read them himself from his perch on the bed behind her. "'Mystic Falls?' I'm guessing dat's where de something happened t' Anna?"

"Yeah, and dat's where we're headed."

**A/N:** Well, there's the next chapter! Hope you enjoyed it! Yes, it was a little exposition heavy, but I felt it was sorta necessary. And I wanted to spend some time with Jeremy and his turning—especially since Damon was the one showing him how to be a vampire. When Damon taunts Jeremy in "Founder's Day" was one of my favorite scenes of the series, so I just couldn't resist throwing those two together. ;-) Anna's reappearance is getting closer with each chapter, so please be patient. I loved Anna and she will be back as soon as the story allows, which will hopefully be very soon. In the meantime, tell me what you think about this update. How'd you like the vampire bonding with Damon and Jeremy? Or Katherine having fun with Damon and Stefan? Tell me what you liked and disliked, constructive criticism helps me write a lot better. Plus, the more comments I get the faster I'll write… lol

Please, please, PLEASE REVIEW!

Thanks for reading!

Sassy18


	3. Chapter Three: It's Not Over

**Resurrection**

**A/N:** Thanks so much for the alerts and favs, but especially the reviews! They were incredibly encouraging and kind; y'all are so freakin' awesome! :-D

**Disclaimer:** Alas, I wasn't lucky enough to buy the TV Rights to _The Vampire Diaries_, but I do get to play with the characters in fanfiction so it's not all bad. . ;-) I also don't own the lyrics to the truly amazing song "Bad to the Bone" by George Thorogood and the Destroyers, nor do I have any claim to the film _Interview with the Vampire_ that is mentioned in this chapter.

**Chapter Rating:** Mature (Language, violence, gore, and some sexuality)

**Special Thanks:**

**People who favorited my story:** Gossipacholic101, mysterious-kitten-xoxo, Jo Harv., CayannePepper, and lunalovegood1dreamygirl.

**People who reviewed:** Gossipacholic101, Ria-Dancer Girl, allison lightning, simonetta, Jo Harv., BlackShadowKat, CayannePepper, and SecretNightfall.

**People who alerted my story:** DarkAngel35, Dark Alana, Danel, mysterious-kitten-xoxo, BlackShadowKat, SoUtHeRnBeLLe706, , and SecretNightfall.

**People who favorited me as an author:** Gossipacholic101 and CayannePepper.

**Written While Under the Influence of:** Daughtry-It's Not Over, George Thorogood and the Destroyers-Bad to the Bone, Broken Frame-Barely Breathe, Kanye West-Stronger, P-Diddy feat. Jimmy Page-Come with Me, People in Planes-Vampire, Lee Safar-I'm Here, Safetysuit-Anywhere But Here, Breaking Benjamin-I Will Not Bow, White Zombie-More Human Than Human (Meet Bambi in the King's Harem Mix), Pop Evil-Somebody Like You, Shinedown-If You Only Knew, Breaking Benjamin-Give Me A Sign, the YouTube vid "Jeremy and Anna" by Wolfprincess90 (song: Red-Never Be the Same), Lacuna Coil-Our Truth, Mudvayne-Happy?, and Papa Roach-Forever.

**Chapter Three: It's Not Over **

"_To die is to be a counterfeit, for he is but the counterfeit of _

_a man who hath not the life of a man; but to counterfeit dying,_

_when a man thereby liveth, is to be no counterfeit, but the true _

_and perfect image of life indeed. The better part of valor is _

_discretion, in the which better part I have sav'd my life."_

_-William Shakespeare, __Henry IV__, Part I, Act V, Scene IV_

Shafts of moonlight peeking through the dark clouds made Damon's ice blue Camaro gleam as it raced across the main drag back to town, top down with "Bad to the Bone" by George Thorogood and the Destroyers pouring out of the speakers. Slightly off-key singing emanated from the driver while the car's other occupant stared at him in awe; Jeremy couldn't believe his eyes, Damon Salvatore, badass vampire extraordinaire, was actually _singing_ along with the radio…

He shook his head in disbelief, longish brown hair flopping into his eyes. "So I'm gonna have to be invited into my own house?" Jeremy interrupted, continuing his seemingly endless series of questions as he tried and failed to tuck the wayward strands behind his ears.

"Yes, but you're not going back there just yet," Damon replied before resuming his singing, _"I'm here to tell ya honey, that I'm bad to the bone. B-b-b-bad, b-b-b-bad, b-b-b-bad. Bad to the bone."_

"Why not? All I have with me are the clothes on my back and Jenna's probably called in the National Guard to airlift my ass home by now," the newly minted vampire countered, folding his arms haughtily over his chest.

"Remember that thing I told you about staying away from people who provoke strong emotions? Well that's exactly what Elena is for you right now and frankly I don't trust you to play nice if I send you back there," Damon explained with exaggerated slowness, bobbing his head in time to the music.

"Then where am I gonna stay?" Jeremy demanded, irritation leaking into his tone.

"You can crash at our place until we figure things out." The older vampire shrugged nonchalantly.

"And what about my clothes?"

"We'll make a pit stop at your house and I'll snag you some. How's the hunger, manageable?" Damon asked in a less-than-subtle change of subject.

Jeremy involuntarily licked his lips, hoping there might be a lingering trace of blood left on them and frowning when he found none. He almost smiled at the memory of how incredible the crimson fluid had tasted, but the dull ache in his stomach that was becoming increasingly insistent chased away any pleasant feelings. "I dunno. Not bad, I guess. I'm still pretty thirsty, though. I don't think you let me drink enough," the teen groused, shooting Damon an accusing glare.

"If I'd let you drink much more we'd have had to take her to the hospital afterward," Damon retorted. "Open the glove compartment; I've got something that'll help take the edge off in there."

For the first time ever Jeremy obeyed him without question, expecting to find blood but discovering a half-empty bottle of Jack Daniels instead. "This?" he asked incredulously, pulling the whiskey out and sloshing the contents experimentally.

"Alcohol helps numb the thirst, but take it easy. We can still get drunk, we just have a higher tolerance than humans," the elder Salvatore brother cautioned, arching a dark eyebrow to convey that he wasn't joking.

Jeremy nodded and impatiently opened the bottle, rapidly gulping down its contents. The bitter liquid tasted essentially the same as any other time he'd drank it before, but—as Damon had promised—his hunger lessened from an all-encompassing need to feed to a vague inclination with every mouthful.

"Wow, drinking like a fish must be a family trait," Damon chuckled as Jeremy drained the last bit of whiskey from the bottle and immediately discarded the empty container in the floorboard.

"You'd drink too if you lived with us," Jeremy commented with an easy smile, the alcohol already loosening his tongue and improving his mood.

"You live with two beautiful women," the older vampire argued lightly.

"Yeah, and I'm related to both of them," the younger one shot back, wrinkling his nose in disgust. "They're the only ones that can even be remotely safe around me. I should just give up dating altogether," he said abruptly, his good mood suddenly deteriorating into melancholy. "Any girl I go near ends up dead."

"I think my mortality record is just a little worse than yours," Damon joked in an attempt to steer Jeremy back to the happy drunk state of being, but neither vampire's expression indicated anything resembling humor: the teen's dark brown eyes were downcast in acute sadness, the driver's icy blue ones stared ahead at the road with a vaguely haunted look as he guided the Camaro into the deserted town square.

XXX

"I don't believe you," Stefan declared vehemently, voice low and dangerous. "Elena would _never_ do that to me."

"And once upon a time you'd have said that I never would've seen Damon behind your back… Appears that history is repeating itself," Katherine replied evenly, an infuriatingly placid smile curving her lips.

Stefan opened his mouth to continue contesting his former lover's assertions, but no words came out. What evidence did he have that what she said was false? Elena's word? She'd hated Damon with a passion mere weeks ago when she discovered that he'd been the one that turned her mother, Isobel, into a vampire in the first place. He'd also nearly killed her friends Bonnie and Caroline on more than one occasion. Never mind what he'd done to her brother's girlfriend, Vicki. And all of that was forgiven and forgotten with little more than a simple apology from Damon? Stefan had trouble understanding how even the bonds of friendship could garner forgiveness for those actions.

He didn't want to even consider the possibility that Elena could be harboring feelings of a more than friendly nature toward his brother, but could find little concrete basis to deny it. The fact that he loved and trusted her was all he could think of, but suddenly even that didn't seem like enough.

Katherine watched Stefan's inner struggle play out on his face, delighting as the little seed of doubt she'd planted in his mind about Elena took root and began to grow.

Stefan dropped his gaze, unable to stand the sight of Katherine's face, a perfect mimicry of that of the woman he loved, with the confused jumble of emotions fluttering around inside him.

"What are you doing here, Katherine?" he finally sighed dejectedly.

"I already told Elena that. Didn't she tell you?" she responded coolly, intentionally calling the girl's trustworthiness back into question.

"Yes, she did. But I want to hear why from you. I doubt you told her the whole truth," the male vampire muttered, eyes hard as he finally lifted them to meet Katherine's.

Grinning, she sidestepped the question, "You always were the most perceptive one about me. It's a shame I had to use compulsion on you so often." Her voice became almost wistful as she reached out a hand to lightly trace his jawline. He flinched at her touch, an expression of revulsion flickering across the angular planes of his face. Katherine's eyes narrowed slightly at that, but she stubbornly continued trailing her fingers over the smooth skin of his chin.

"I asked you a question, Katherine," Stefan reminded her, fighting to keep his tone even.

She gave an exasperated groan at his persistence, rolling her eyes as she released him and stalked back toward his desk.

"I'd planned on taking Johnathan Gilbert out as soon as he destroyed the tomb vampires from the beginning. Just not personally," Katherine began in a bored voice, cocking a hip and folding her arms just beneath her breasts. "He and Isobel dictated a change in my plans."

"What do you mean?"

"Isobel was how I got Johnathan to do what I wanted. He was still so pathetically in love with her that he'd do anything she asked, so I sent her to him with the task of handling the tomb vampire problem."

"How'd you even know about them escaping?" Stefan inquired, crossing his own arms over his chest.

"Pearl contacted me," Katherine replied simply. "After all this time she still knew how to find me…" Her deep brown eyes warmed at the mention of her former best friend, but then sadness crept into her gaze, turning the usually hard chocolate stare liquid. "Johnathan was only supposed to kill the vampires that were attracting too much attention here; Pearl was _never _ supposed to be hurt, she was leaving Mystic Falls. But he killed her anyway." The momentary grief disappeared from her eyes, replaced by burning hatred.

"He disobeyed me, as did Isobel. All to protect their _little girl_," she hissed, the words filled with intense disdain.

"That's why you killed Johnathan? Because he killed Pearl?" he pointedly redirected the conversation, keeping Katherine's focus off Elena.

"That's why I killed him myself. He knew that I'd find out what he did sooner or later, so the only way he'd get away with it would be to use the device against me as well. Plus he'd get to play the hero with Isobel and 'rescue' her from me. He had to die, for what he did to Pearl and what he would've done to me."

"And Isobel?" Stefan asked, more for Elena than himself.

"She's being punished for her part," Katherine smirked sadistically.

The younger Salvatore stared at her quizzically, unsure if he wanted to know exactly what she deemed 'punishment.'

Katherine continued without further prodding from him, "She's more valuable to me alive than dead, so she's in a no blood, all vervain 'time out' for awhile. I'm bringing her Johnathan's ring so that she'll understand what'll happen to her if she _ever_ goes against me again. And I'll tell her how lovely it was meeting her precious Elena…" she trailed off, the threat evident in her voice.

"And where did Damon and I fit into your plan, Katherine? Was Johnathan supposed to kill us too?" Stefan questioned, unable to ignore that particular elephant in the room.

Her lips twisted into a grin. "I figured you boys would find a way out somehow. And if you didn't, well…" she shrugged, "call it karmic payback for that piss-poor rescue attempt of yours back in the day."

XXX

Damon slowed the Camaro to a halt before the Salvatore boarding house, gaze immediately drawn to the light pouring out of his brother's window. He knew the confrontation about him helping Elena's brother turn into a vampire was inevitable, but he'd hoped it wouldn't be so soon. He supposed that if things got rough he could just distract Stefan from the transformation by telling him about Katherine's visit. Jeremy obliviously hopped out of the car, grabbing the bag of clothes that Damon had taken from his bedroom and slinging one of the straps onto his shoulder. They both walked toward the door, the older vampire lagging slightly behind.

"I don't have to be invited by you, do I?" Jeremy questioned, tossing him a backwards glance.

"No, that only applies when humans live in the house."

The teen nodded and continued striding up the footpath. Damon allowed Jeremy to enter first, just in case Elena happened to be there also. That way Jeremy would get the brunt of the verbal lashing while he took the bard's advice about discretion being the better part of valor and got the hell out of Dodge.

Jeremy walked into the house without incident—namely Elena and/or Stefan descending on him like a pack of wolves—so Damon followed him inside, sighing slightly in relief. His respite was short-lived as a split-second later Stefan raced down the stairs and slammed him into the wall hard enough to crack the plaster. The younger Salvatore planted his forearm roughly across his brother's throat, keeping him pinned in place.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you now," Stefan growled lividly, jet black veins cascading from his eyes.

"There're plenty of reasons not to kill me, my charming personality for starters…" Damon sneered down at his brother only to have his words cut off as the other vampire increased the pressure on his throat.

"Cut the bullshit, Damon! Did you honestly think it'd go any other way when I found out what you did?" Stefan roared, fangs bared.

"That depends on which thing I did that you're talking about," the black-haired vampire shot back, reaching up to pry his brother's arm away from his neck.

"Kissing Elena," Stefan spat, putting all his weight into his hold on Damon.

"_Oh_," Damon breathed—this subject was far tamer than what he'd anticipated—then chuckled, "Funny story..."

His laugh was rewarded with a hard punch across the cheekbone.

"This isn't a fucking joke, damn you!" the spiky-haired vampire shouted, fist balled in preparation to strike his brother again.

Ice blue eyes flashing in anger, Damon gathered his strength and shoved Stefan clear across the room, splintering the plaster on the opposite wall as he crashed into it. The vampire brothers took on identical fighting postures, bodies crouched and tense as they waited for the other to attack first. Jeremy, who'd instinctively moved out of their way when Stefan had initially appeared, stepped forward, attempting to separate them. Damon shot him a warning glance not to come any closer, and the momentary distraction was all the opportunity necessary for Stefan to jump his brother again.

Just as Stefan reached him, hand clamping around his throat, Damon lashed out and grabbed his younger brother by the jugular as well. They increased the pressure of their chokeholds to the full extent their vampire bodies were capable of, but both quickly realized they were locked in a stalemate.

"I didn't kiss Elena," Damon choked out. "It was Katherine pretending to be her."

"Oh, that's better! It was just a mistake that you _didn't_ kiss Elena!" Stefan hissed.

Feminine laughter accompanied by light applause interrupted the vampire brawl and all eyes turned to the staircase. Katherine leisurely strolled down the steps, clapping and laughing as she went. "I'd forgotten how much fun you boys were," she snickered, regarding Stefan and Damon like they were merely children playing. The brothers immediately relinquished their hold on each other and stepped back, eyeing each other warily, but also forging an uneasy truce—lifelong enemies temporarily united in the face of a far greater threat: Katherine Pierce.

"He's telling the truth, you know," Katherine offered to Stefan. "He thought I was her. At first." She winked knowingly at Damon.

"What do you mean _thought_ you were Elena?" Jeremy asked, brow scrunched up in confusion.

"That's Katherine, she's the vampire that made us. She and Elena are related somehow and the identical thing is a _real _ long story, so just don't ask," Damon replied quickly, not wanting to draw her attention to the teenage vampire.

"But…" Jeremy began.

"I said 'don't ask,'" Damon cut him off.

"You're Jeremy, right? Elena's little brother?" Katherine questioned, turning toward the youngest in the room.

He automatically shrunk backwards from her as her name finally clicked in his mind: he'd read about her in Elena's journal.

"Oh, don't be scared, honey. I've killed my last Gilbert of the evening." She smiled sweetly.

"_You_ killed my uncle?" Jeremy exploded, readying to launch himself at her but before he could even move Damon had sped across the room and secured both arms behind his back. The teen fought to free himself from the other vampire's impenetrable hold, the tell-tale veins on his cheeks flooding his eyes with blood as he bared his fangs and hissed at Katherine in frustration.

"Well, well, Elena's little _vampire_ brother, I see." Katherine laughed maliciously. "You're definitely new to this though," she continued, stepping closer to examine him, but remaining a safe distance away from his snapping teeth. "Not more than a few hours old, I'd say. But you should be happy I axed Johnathan before he found out you were a vampire, too. Something as trivial as being related wouldn't have stopped him from shoving a stake through your heart just like the others."

"Don't toy with him, Katherine," Damon warned coldly, tightening his grip on Jeremy's forearms to keep him from slipping away, but also to combat the urge to let the teen go and attack her. The momentary satisfaction that would bring wouldn't be worth her killing the poor kid, which he knew is exactly what she'd do.

"But who turned you, I wonder…" she went on, ignoring his warning. She rapidly leaned in and placed her face in the crook of Jeremy's neck, inhaling deeply—he stiffened instinctively at her proximity to such a vulnerable place but was unable to move away.

"Anna," Katherine grinned as she stepped back and let the breath whoosh out of her lungs. "Pearl told me she was worried that something might be going on between a Gilbert boy and her little Annabelle, but this is too good. The last male Gilbert falling for the daughter of the vampire his ancestor loved and betrayed, only to become a vampire himself…how _progressive_ of you."

Jeremy had flinched at the mention of Anna but quickly redoubled his efforts to get to Katherine, almost managing to move Damon in his fury. His eyes burned and his vision actually took on a red tinge as he glared at the vampire double of his sister tormenting him. He wanted to tear her apart for not only murdering his uncle but for bringing Anna into this as well.

"Where is Anna anyway?" she asked him with a smile.

The teen dropped his gaze to the floor, momentarily stopping his struggles. Katherine's brows knitted together in confusion comingled with annoyance at his silence. "Where is she?" she repeated the question. "I can still smell her blood in you and you're too young to have gotten that far from her."

"She's dead," Jeremy murmured thickly, saying the words aloud for the first time and fighting back the tears they brought to his eyes.

Katherine's eyes widened in genuine surprise and she looked intently at Damon for confirmation. He nodded slowly, face grim. "Johnathan staked her right in front of me."

A variety of emotions rapidly played across her face: shock, disbelief, sadness, frustration, before finally settling on anger. Dark veins trailed from her eyes as Katherine bit hard on her lower lip. "That son of a bitch!" she hissed, her usually unflappable self-control breaking.

She and Anna had never been anything resembling close, but Pearl had been Katherine's best friend for a _long_ time and losing her had caused an eruption of rage inside her. She'd known that Anna had escaped Pearl's fate—Isobel's interrogation had yielded that bit of information—and had been looking forward to telling the girl that the man who'd killed her mother was dead. Katherine had made a posthumous promise to her lost friend to look after Anna, but had failed in that task before she'd even begun. All because of damned Johnathan Gilbert.

Katherine closed her eyes, taking a deep breath through her nose to compose herself. When she opened them, the veins had melded back into the smooth surface of her skin.

"Nice meeting you, Jeremy." She forced a smile onto her face then turned on her heel and strode toward the door. "Be a dear and tell your sister I said thanks for the jacket."

The female vampire grabbed said garment off the coat rack by the door and shrugged it on over her shoulders. "Damon, Stefan," she nodded at each of them in turn, "try not to kill each other until I'm around to watch."

She opened the door and, in a flurry of movement, disappeared out into the night. None of the three men moved for a moment after her exit, all dealing with a different emotional shock: the loss of Anna, the reappearance of Katherine and the havoc she'd wrought, and the conflict over Elena. Damon was the first to break free of their frozen state, gingerly releasing Jeremy's arms.

The teen stood stock still, arms hanging limply at his sides, and stared blankly at the floor as though all life had been drained from him by what he'd just learned. There was still some lingering anger over Katherine murdering Johnathan and taunting him about that act and his relationship with Anna, but that wasn't what currently dominated his thoughts.

He'd already assumed that his uncle had killed Anna, but now he knew for sure and that was worse. Worse because Johnathan had probably discovered Anna through _him_. The memory of how interested his uncle had been in his relationship with her, how he'd wanted Jeremy to talk to him about her, tormented him. Jeremy curled his hands into fists, cursing himself. He was a walking plague, infecting everyone and everything he touched, especially those that meant the most to him. His uncle may have actually killed Anna, but Jeremy was the one who sentenced her to death; she was doomed from the very moment they met.

The black veins etched themselves deeply into his face once again as his emotions spiraled out of control, anger and grief blending together and expanding in his chest until he felt like he might physically explode.

"Jeremy?" Stefan broke the silence, regarding him as though he were a wild animal that might unexpectedly attack anything around him. "Are you okay?"

The young vampire glared out from under his overgrown bangs at him and shot back caustically, "Do I look okay?"

"Stupid question," Damon broke in. "Why don't you go upstairs and grab a room? I'll bring you some blood packets in a minute."

Jeremy remained where he was for a moment, chest heaving with his breaths as he fought the instinctive urge to destroy something—or someone. He finally nodded, hitching his bag up higher on his shoulder as he trudged over to the staircase and ascended it in a blur.

"Well, that was fun," the elder Salvatore sighed sarcastically as he started toward the basement to raid the icebox.

"This isn't over, Damon," Stefan warned, the truce between them having clearly expired.

"Can we reschedule the vague death threats for some other time? I've got a pissed off new vampire upstairs to deal with right now on top of Katherine and everything else. Besides, we both know you never mean it," Damon replied with a cocksure smirk.

"You're right. I won't kill you, but I can stop saving you," the younger Salvatore muttered darkly before striding upstairs himself.

Damon watched his brother go, the seriousness of the words creeping over him and into his expression.

He'd overstepped his bounds with Stefan plenty of times over the decades and therefore knew the warning signs of his brother's temper exceedingly well, but he'd never had that cold tone directed at him before. This time he'd finally found that invisible boundary line for the land of no return and gone over it. A sliver of fear seeped into him at the thought; Damon was usually the more dangerous of the Salvatores, but he was nothing compared to that rarely-seen dark side of Stefan.

XXX

Jeremy stalked through the dark halls of the boarding house, choosing a bedroom at the very end of the second floor. It was spartanly decorated—with only a bed, empty nightstand, dresser, and lamp in the room—and the air smelled stale and uncirculated, no trace of Damon or Stefan's scent to be found. He flung his bag of clothes onto the bed and slammed the door shut behind him. He knew he was acting like a bratty teenager, but exerting extra energy helped to keep him from snapping.

Breathing heavily, he allowed his eyes to take in his surroundings. The room was a stark contrast of colors, the furniture a wood stained so dark it appeared black with the bed sheets and curtains providing the opposite end of the spectrum in a creamy, off-white shade. Jeremy momentarily entertained the idea of trashing the whole room to see if that would help calm him down, but quickly decided against it. He needed someone to guide him through being a vampire and causing property damage wouldn't be the best way to stay on the Salvatore brothers' good side.

Jeremy sunk onto the bed and put his head in his hands. The ache of thirst was back in full force, warring with his rage and sorrow to be the first to destroy him. His emotions actually felt amplified now, the exact opposite of what he wanted. He tried to remember if Anna or Damon had ever told him explicitly how to turn his feelings off, but came up empty handed. He should've known this would happen, as if he could just down a vial of blood chased with dozens of pills and make it all go away.

Life was never that simple with him. Every other time Jeremy had found something that even slightly alleviated his suffering it turned around to bite him on the ass. Drugs had left him foggy-brained and uncoordinated, Vicki had only wanted him when Tyler screwed things up or if he could get her drugs, and Anna…

A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts, immediately followed by Stefan poking his head in and asking, "How you doing?"

"Bad," Jeremy growled through clenched teeth. "Feels like I'm about to explode."

"Try to calm down. Don't think about people or things that upset you," the other vampire offered, cautiously entering the room.

"I've tried that already, it doesn't work for very long."

"Focus on the physical then," Stefan suggested helpfully, folding his wiry arms across his chest.

"What the hell does that mean?" Jeremy demanded, irritation lacing his tone.

"Exercise. Do sit ups and pushups, go running, anything that requires a lot of energy. Focus just on that physical task and use it to exhaust yourself. That usually helps regulate both your hunger and emotions."

"Thanks," the young vampire muttered, regretting his harsh treatment of Stefan when the guy was only trying to help.

"I'm gonna call Elena to let her know you're okay and with us…do you wanna talk to her?" Stefan questioned carefully, not wanting to upset him further.

"Definitely not," Jeremy replied quickly, he didn't feel up to dealing with Elena and his aunt yet.

"Good call," Damon announced, sweeping into the room with two packets of blood in hand. "You've already had enough drama for one night." The elder Salvatore brother pressed a blood packet into the teen's hand. "Drink up, you'll feel a hell of a lot better. Trust me."

Jeremy didn't need to be told twice and immediately brought the clear bag to his mouth and punctured the thick plastic with his fangs, drinking hungrily. He grimaced at the temperature—it'd been so much better warm and pulsing—but didn't stop, his body was practically screaming for the exquisite tasting blood as it poured down his throat. The teen drained the bag in a matter of seconds, barely registering it as the other was placed in his free hand. He let the empty bag drop to the floor and instantly transferred his mouth to the new one, repeating the process of piercing the plastic with his teeth and rapidly consuming the blood contained within.

Panting, he lowered the empty second bag a minute later, reflexively licking his lips to catch any of the dark liquid that may've collected there. Damon regarded him with a pleased expression while Stefan's face was stern, forehead lined with clear disapproval but his eyes were conflicted—hunger tempered by the resolve to only feed on animals as Elena's diary had said, Jeremy supposed.

The ache didn't exactly leave his body with the drinking, it just lessened to the point where he barely noticed it, a pinprick instead of a butcher knife stabbing into him. But his emotions were still roaming around unrestrained inside him.

"How do I turn it off?" Jeremy demanded, eyes fixed determinedly on the Salvatore brothers. There was no need for him to define what the 'it' was, they all knew.

Damon patted his brother on the shoulder with mock-severity saying, "I'll handle this part, since you clearly are not the authority on controlling your emotions. You can call Elena and explain everything to her." He smirked with outright satisfaction that Stefan would be facing the music in his stead.

Stefan glared at Damon, jaw clenching as he restrained himself from going another round of vampire death match, Salvatore brother edition. "Can I talk to you outside for just a second?" he growled then strode out of the room without looking to see if Damon followed.

The black-haired vampire exited the room as well, stopping just a few feet away from the door where Stefan stood rigidly waiting for him. "You realize he'll still hear everything we say," Damon chuckled at the ridiculousness of a private conversation this close to another vampire.

"Why are you being so helpful, Damon? I don't recall you being quite as eager to care and share with Vicki," Stefan inquired shrewdly. His brother's smile faltered and he knew he'd stumbled onto the right track. "You're not just doing this out of the goodness of your heart, are you? You've got an ulterior motive here."

It was Damon's turn to glower now as Stefan began to ferret out his brother's often hidden motivations.

"If this is another 'Stefan's insecure' speech, let's just bypass it. You're jealous that I'm hotter, funnier, and will most likely steal your girl away. If I do, we'll go all _Mortal Kombat_ again. I get it," Damon sneered, evading the question as he attempted to regain his usual unaffected air.

He already knew that telling Jeremy life was easier as a vampire might've played some part in the teenager's decision to turn—and maybe he did regret that—but he'd be damned if he were going to confess that particular sin to Stefan of all people. If he were going to spill his guts to anyone about what he'd said it would be Elena, but Damon had no intention of doing that anytime soon. He preferred the alternative of quietly shepherding Jeremy into life as a vampire. It was better this way for everyone involved; never mind the fact that it spared him from having to see that flash of loathing and hatred in Elena's eyes once again directed at him.

"No, this is another 'what are you up to Damon' speech," Stefan countered, voice dropping to that irritatingly perceptive tone. "Before I call Elena I want to know everything you do, so that she'll have all the facts about Jeremy."

"Elena's been through enough already," Damon replied seriously. "I just want to make this whole Jeremy situation as painless for everyone as possible."

"And giving him human blood is supposed to help do that how?"

"He needs to learn how to control his hunger and your Bugs Bunny diet still has more than a few flaws, so my way seemed like the better tact to take." The elder Salvatore smirked wryly.

"And if he turns out as controlled as Vicki, what happens then? You just apologize to Elena if he kills someone or gets himself killed?" Stefan hissed in a low voice.

"I'll keep an eye on him and make sure he stays out of trouble," Damon retorted, eyes flashing menacingly.

"Which brings me back to my original question: What's in this for you, Damon? You planning on using him to get closer to Elena?"

Damon stepped forward, bringing himself toe-to-toe with Stefan. "I will not stand here and explain myself to you. I'm helping him because I choose to, end of story. I went easy on you downstairs because you saved my life tonight, but I am still stronger than you, Stefan. Challenge me again and I _will_ make you regret it," he whispered calmly and evenly but with a barely restrained undercurrent of malice in his tone.

"Be sure and tell Elena hello for me when you call her," Damon said, mood abruptly shifting as he smiled and thumped his brother on the shoulder before returning to Jeremy's room.

The teen was rapidly pawing through his bag, examining the clothes Damon had brought him, as the elder Salvatore walked in. Jeremy didn't acknowledge his presence, but he knew the young vampire was fully aware of him.

"Heard all that, didn't you?" he questioned, pursing his lips thoughtfully.

"Every word," Jeremy sighed, piling an assortment of shirts and pants on the bed. "Any truth to what he said? That you're just using me to get to my sister?" he asked, eyeing the black-haired vampire suspiciously.

"First off, you came to me for help, remember? And I already told you, I'm doing this because Elena loves you and I don't want to see her hurt," Damon explained firmly, arms folded across his chest.

The teen gave an apologetic nod. "Thanks. For helping me, I mean."

"Don't mention it." Damon waved the comment off. "The hunger should be pretty well restrained by now. You've got around five pints in you, so you'll be good till morning."

"How do I shut the pain off?" Jeremy repeated his earlier question, staring directly at the other vampire.

"It's complicated and not easy to do at first," Damon cautioned.

"I don't care," the teen pressed, dark brown eyes boring into him decidedly. "I wanna learn how to do it."

"You have to let go of your humanity, which is natural for a vampire, but you have to be careful not to lose complete control of yourself along the way," Damon began. "Your new instincts are hard enough to ignore already, but if you don't keep a firm handle on the desire to feed and what lingering human emotions you have left…it won't be pretty."

"How do I do all that?"

"That woman at the bar that you fed on, you hesitated when I offered her to you. Why?"

When Jeremy didn't answer immediately Damon did it for him, "You didn't want to hurt her. You felt sympathy for her."

The young vampire nodded without looking at him.

"That's what you have to let go of," he continued harshly. "They're not people anymore. They're food, playthings, whatever you want them to be. But not all of them are like that, and this is the complicated part: Elena, your aunt, people you cared about in life, don't think of them that way. It'll just cause all of us trouble and make me majorly annoyed if you do anything to them. That's why you have to stay away from certain people for now, you're so new that any heightened emotion or exposure to blood will set you off. Once you're better controlled we can go hunting again, but only for strangers, like that woman at the bar."

"What will I feel if I do it right?" Jeremy asked, eyes wary.

"At first, nothing. Nothing but thirst and then the pleasure of drinking blood," Damon replied honestly.

"That's it?" the teen questioned, visibly deflating as the last shred of hope he'd clung to was unceremoniously ripped away from him.

"What else did you expect? Pain is just the absence of pleasure, like dark is the absence of light. So to feel no pain, you feel no real pleasure, beyond the basic bodily pleasures: feeding, fighting, fucking," Damon shrugged, oblivious to the full effect of his words.

"Then why do you care about Elena?" Jeremy shot back desperately.

The other vampire was silent a moment, seeming to weigh his response carefully. When he finally spoke, it was in the most solemn tone the younger Gilbert had ever heard him use, "I said I turned my emotions off for a long time, Jeremy. Not that I still did."

With that he left the room, leaving Jeremy alone to deal with the consequences of his rash actions: a prolonged, shallow existence as an emotionless parasite or an eternity of emotional agony.

XXX

"Elena, I found him," Stefan said into his cell phone after his girlfriend's breathless voice answered.

"_Oh, thank God! Is he okay?"_ she asked, her panic flowing clearly through the receiver.

"He's fine. He's here at the house with me and Damon."

"_Did he…"_

"Yes, Damon found him and took care of it," Stefan muttered, fighting to tamp down his anger toward his brother.

"_Damon? How'd Damon find out?"_

"Jeremy apparently went straight to Damon after he started to transition and Damon helped him feed."

"_He didn't kill somebody, did he?"_ she reluctantly whispered after an apprehensive silence.

"Not as far as I can tell, but Damon's been giving him human blood so we're gonna keep him here just to be safe. You'll need to make up a story for Jenna about why he's not at home."

"_Okay…"_ she sighed and he could almost see her brow furrow with thought. _"Can I talk to him, Stefan?"_

"I don't think that's a good idea right now," he hedged, not wanting to admit that Jeremy had actually refused to talk to her.

"_Yeah, I guess you're right,"_ Elena murmured and he could hear the hurt in her voice; it killed him that she was in pain because of the secrets she'd kept from Jeremy for his sake and Damon's. _"Um, well, I'll tell Jenna that he's upset because of what happened to Uncle John and that he's staying at your place for a while to calm down. How's that sound?"_

"Good. I'll keep you informed on how he's doing, okay? I'll keep him safe, Elena. I promise."

"_I know you will. I love you, Stefan. Please tell Damon thanks for me."_

Stefan's jaw clenched at the mention of his brother, but he still responded, "I love you too, Elena."

XXX

Jeremy yanked his sweat-soaked shirt off over his head and collapsed backward on the bed, utterly exhausted. He'd stubbornly tried Stefan's advice after hearing Damon's bleak outlook on vampire life to see if it might somehow be a unique experience for each person. The only noticeable difference was that his arms and stomach were now half numb from nearly an hour of pushups and crunches. But the ache in his muscles did temporarily distract from the emotional turmoil continuing to rage inside him, so he supposed it wasn't a total loss.

The teen scrubbed his hands roughly over his face in frustration. Yes, he'd acted impulsively. Yes, he'd been totally selfish. He'd just wanted the pain to go away, but at what cost? Jeremy had no trouble with hurting himself, but shutting out his humanity seemed to almost require him to harm other people. Sure, he'd enjoyed drinking from that woman at the bar, but she'd still been a person and he wouldn't have killed her…he hoped. He didn't think he could view people as just food—had that been all Anna had seen him as? A cheeseburger she wanted to play with a little bit before ruthlessly devouring?

No, Anna had feelings for him, Jeremy was sure of it. The way she'd looked at him, touched him, kissed him, made love to him…that'd all been real. And he didn't want to lose that. He wanted to keep that part of himself intact. It would hurt like hell to do so, but if he let go of his humanity he would truly be a monster, and that wasn't what he wanted.

A humorless chuckle tumbled past his lips, he was freakin' Louis from _Interview with the Vampire._ The guy wanted to die, but became a vampire instead and then spent the rest of his eternal life in agony because he didn't lose his humanity. Anna had been right, everything he knew about vampires was from _Netflix._

Sighing, Jeremy rubbed his closed eyes and repositioned himself on the mattress, tiredly rolling onto his side then propping his head on one of the cream-colored pillows. He hadn't hoped to fall asleep, but the stress of the day seemed to have finally caught up to him as after a few seconds he felt himself begin to slip into unconsciousness.

XXX

_Jeremy stirred slightly as he felt his bangs being gently brushed to one side of his forehead. He slowly opened his eyes only to bolt upright in bed, suddenly hyper-awake courtesy of the adrenaline pumping rapidly through his veins._

_**Anna**__ was lying next to him. Her disheveled black hair curled perfectly over her pale olive skin, a hand still hovering in the air from where she'd been stroking his hair in his sleep. _

"_Jeremy? Are you okay?" she asked, those gorgeous, dark almond-shaped eyes of hers filling with worry. _

_Words escaped him as his heart jack hammered wildly in his chest, the organ seemingly intent on beating its way out through his ribs. He shakily sat up, his own deep brown gaze flickering from her to the room. They weren't at the boarding house, instead they were in his own bed, in his room. _

"_Anna?" he choked out disbelievingly as she pushed herself up into a sitting position. _

"_Yes, something wrong?" She peered curiously at him through the long strands of hair that fell into her eyes._

"_No," the words left his mouth in a whoosh of air as he reached out and crushed her against him. "Nothing's wrong." _

_Jeremy dropped his head to her shoulders, deeply inhaling her scent as he tightened his arms around her, letting the warmth of her body pressing against his convince him this was real. Anna momentarily stiffened with shock at being abruptly pulled into an embrace, but eventually brought her arms up to rub his broad shoulders. _

"_Not that I'm complaining, but where'd all this enthusiasm come from?" She chuckled, lush lips breaking into that pixie smile he loved. _

"_I'm just glad to see you, that's all," Jeremy replied, releasing her but he was unable to stop himself from keeping her close, his hands softly stroking her dark hair. _

"_Glad to see me alive, you mean." She grinned, brown eyes piercing straight through him._

"_What?" _

"_C'mon, Jeremy," Anna murmured, running a hand lightly down his cheek, "I'm dead, remember?" _

_He nearly leapt off the bed at her words, but she quickly linked her hands behind his neck, keeping him in place. _

"_I died…because of you," the female vampire accused, crawling into his lap and planting her legs on either side of his hips, consequently hiking up the hem of the pure white nightgown she wore. "I stayed in Mystic Falls because of you. I put my mother and myself in danger for you. And for what? To have you reject me time and time again for some girl that was already dead." _

_Jeremy merely stared at her in mute horror as Anna laid all his sins bare before him. He wanted to speak, to contradict what she was saying but couldn't find the words. _

"_Then when you finally decided you __**did**__ want me," she continued, leaning forward until their noses touched, "you led me and my mother right to the man who would destroy us: your uncle." Her words cut into him like razor blades, but he remained silent as she slid her palms lightly down his arms, stopping at his hands. _

_Anna slowly brought both his hands up to her face, nuzzling the center of one palm and kissing it lightly before brushing her lips against his own. The feel of her mouth meeting his blocked everything out for a moment, even her previous words. Jeremy fell gratefully into the kiss, cupping her cheeks between his palms and moving his lips along with hers. Anna deepened the kiss, teasing his mouth open with her tongue and stroking his. He was so absorbed with the sensation that he didn't notice her slipping his hands down from her face._

_She trailed his palms along her neck, over her collarbones and in between her breasts, bringing them to a stop just beneath her sternum. _

_Jeremy stared at her in confusion as she broke the kiss. _

"_He staked me, Jeremy, but you're the one who really killed me," Anna whispered against his lips, curling his fingers around something hard and rough between their bodies—what he realized too late was a wooden stake._

_She held her hands over his as she plunged the stake into her chest. Her mouth fell open as she gasped for breath and immediately went limp in his arms._

"_Anna!" he shouted, grasping her shoulders and shaking her gently._

_Her head lolled lifelessly in time with his motions, finally craning backward and revealing her newly gray skin webbed by black veins. Startled, he released her, watching in shock as she fell back onto the mattress, white gown and raven hair fanning out around her. The stake rose up perfectly straight from her chest, a dark red stain spreading outward from it. _

_Jeremy glanced down at his hands only to find them coated in that same crimson substance—Anna's blood. Tears welled up in his eyes as a tortured scream tore through his throat._

XXX

Jeremy sprang off the bed, the room spinning around him as he gulped down deep lungfuls of air. Brow furrowing in bewilderment when the familiar black and white color scheme of the bedroom he'd claimed as his at the Salvatore boarding house met his deep brown gaze. He quickly brought his hands up to his face, inspecting the flesh of his palms and finding no trace of blood on them.

He ran his hands roughly through his hair, pushing the dark strands away from his face, only for his fingers to come away damp with sweat.

_It was a dream, just a dream,_ Jeremy told himself as he struggled to calm his body down.

It didn't help matters that he could still feel the warmth of Anna's lips against his own, still see her expressive brown eyes boring accusingly into his. Nor could he escape the harsh reality of her words.

He was to blame for the death of the woman he loved. _Again._

Jaw clenching, Jeremy stomped past the heavy drawn curtains and out into the hall. God, he needed a drink.

XXX

The sun had finally climbed over the gigantic trees dotting the horizon line, painting the sky in hues of blue and pink, as a single motorcycle sped down the winding roads of Virginia. A couple were huddled together on the leather seats of the gleaming chrome bike, long brown hair tumbling out from under the passenger's helmet and fluttering in the breeze behind them like a battle flag. The woman tightened her arms around the driver's waist to get his attention as they blazed past a sign. He shot her a backwards glance through the obstructions of the dark brown hair slapping against the dark lenses of his sunglasses, raising an eyebrow in question.

"Mystic Falls: 50 miles," Elyse lifted the visor and shouted to be heard over the howling wind and roaring engine.

Caleb nodded, returning his attention to the road and cranking the gas.

_We're almost dere, Anna,_ she thought, shutting her visor with a snap and burrowing deeper into the leather-clad warmth of her boyfriend's back.

**A/N:** Okay, first off I'm so sorry it took me this long to update! This chapter was more difficult to get down on paper than the previous ones, but hopefully it's just as good as the others. Secondly, I was hoping to revive Anna this chapter, but I also wanted to update ASAP and with fifteen pages already, it would've been an unimaginably long update if I did shoehorn Anna's resurrection in this time. So sorry again! :-( But not to worry, baring a natural disaster or an unavoidable absence—a long awaited trip to Chicago or getting a job—Anna will be back in the very next update! :-)

I really need some feedback here guys, please, please, PLEASE review! The Katherine and Jeremy confrontation and Stefan vs. Damon scenes were a blast to write, but I wanna know what y'all think. Did they work? Were the characterizations horribly off? Was Katherine's exit too abrupt? Did y'all like Damon's explanation of how turning off emotions works for a vampire? I couldn't think of any other way to describe it, and I wanted it to be harder than it seemed so that Jeremy wouldn't just do it.

What about the dream sequence with Jeremy and Anna? I put that in there mostly because I felt horribly guilty about not reviving her this chapter, but also because I felt that it worked for Jeremy as well. This is what he's feeling, and what better way to visualize that than by having Anna say it to him in a dream?

Thanks again to all the reviewers, alerts, and favorites people! Y'all are what kept me writing through all the writer's block and distractions.

Oh! I wanted to ask y'all something: what do you want Anna's anti-sun talisman to be: the little silver ring she wears on her right ring finger or the black lariat necklace? She wears both a lot, but I can't decide which one it actually is. The one that gets the most votes will be what I write it as. :-)

Thanks for reading! And PLEASE review!

Sassy18


	4. Chapter Four: Ashes to Ashes, Part I

**Resurrection**

**A/N:** Wow guys! Y'all are simply amazing. I've said it before, but reviews and the like are incredibly helpful to me. I'm always curious about how certain scenes/lines/and other various nuances in the story are being received and you guys are so great about telling me what you like. Thanks so much, y'all are the main reason my updates are being as consistent as they are. :-)

**Results of the reviewer opinion poll on Anna's anti-sun talisman: Ring-5, Necklace-3. **

Because I haven't updated since before season 2 began, I feel the need to say something. I started this story immediately after the end of the first season, so a lot of things that have happened in season 2 will NOT be happening in my story. I will be continuing to write this story largely in the way I'd originally envisioned it after the first season finale, but some aspects of the current season will appear as well.

**Disclaimer:** I own absolutely nothing of _The Vampire Diaries_, but Jeremy or Damon would be an awesome belated Valentine's Day present… lol Just a thought. ;-P I also don't own _Disney, Looney Tunes, The Addams Family_ or any of their respective characters mentioned in this chapter.

**Chapter Rating:** Mature (Language, mild insinuations of violence and gore, implied sex and sensuality)

**Special Thanks:**

**People who reviewed:** MoiAdore, SecretNightfall, Hals'TeamAnna'Mals, allison lightning, Terapsina, wsm021, Ria-Dancer Girl, liontiger, LoLness'-', ToffeeRain, SkylerRavenclaw, BlackShadowKat, David Fishwick, Dorian Windslasher (Thanks for 2 reviews!), Ginnycrazy, CHIBI-CRAZY, Loverofgoodstories27, Vampsallaround, Crazychicke (Thanks for 2 reviews!), and cece1090.

**People who alerted me as an author:** Hals'TeamAnna'Mals, and BlackShadowKat.

**People who favorited me as an author:** Hals'TeamAnna'Mals, Ria-Dancer Girl, BlackShadowKat, Crazychicke, and GaryMcv.

**People who favorited my story:** Hals'TeamAnna'Mals, Steinar, indigocircle, Lettuce., LoLness'-', mimi 1988, SkylerRavenclaw, BlackShadowKat, Ginnycrazy, Loverofgoodstories27, Mizore53, RainsFinalFantasy, jennyc2015, David Fishwick, Tyrannster, Crazychicke, pinkbumblebee, GaryMcv, and cece1090.

**People who alerted my story:** Hals'TeamAnna'Mals, Steinar, wsm021, indigocircle, raYo, Lettuce., LoLness'-', rattychipmunk, ToffeeRain, SkylerRavenclaw, David Fishwick, ToSayUng, Vampire Leprechaun, Zlataslawa, jennyc2015, Loverofgoodstories27, xXxPrincessKayxXx, kimster5000, kyotosan, Bookworm since birth, GaryMcv, and cece1090.

**Written While Under the Influence of:** Mat Kearney-All I Need, Coheed and Cambria-Welcome Home, Leona Lewis-Bleeding Love, Vast-One More Day, Dashboard Confessional-Stolen, The String Quartet-Clocks (Coldplay), Framing Hanley-Alone in This Bed (Capeside), Snow Patrol-Chasing Cars, P!nk-Raise Your Glass, Sounds Under Radio-All You Wanted, Lifehouse-Broken, Cage the Elephant-Ain't No Rest for the Wicked, Ron Pope-A Drop in the Ocean, Breaking Benjamin-Dear Agony, Placebo-Running Up That Hill, Red-Fight Inside, and The Pretty Reckless-Make Me Wanna Die.

**Chapter Four: Ashes to Ashes, Part I**

"_Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection…"_

_-The Book of Common Prayer, Burial Service 1928 edition_

Sheriff Elizabeth Forbes trudged exhaustedly into the visitor's center of the hospital, searching for a cup of coffee but discovering instead Matt Donovan. Her daughter's boyfriend was sprawled halfway out of one of the uncomfortable chairs stationed along the wall sleeping. A small smile tipped her lips as she checked her watch, it was 8 a.m. and he still hadn't left.

"Matt," she whispered, giving his shoulder a gentle shake.

His baby blues opened groggily but he immediately snapped bolt upright at the sight of her, the faux-leather squeaking loudly beneath him in protest. "Is Caroline okay?" he asked, voice pitched higher than normal with rising panic.

"She's fine," Forbes reassured him. "The surgery went well and she's in recovery, resting. I'm sorry, I should've told you hours ago when they moved her out of the OR, but I wanted to stay with her and then I must have fallen asleep," she admitted, flashing an apologetic smile as if confessing a great weakness.

"It's okay, Sheriff Forbes," Matt sighed in relief, staggering too quickly to his feet and almost falling face first onto the floor.

"Whoa there," the blond woman exclaimed, reaching out and steadying the bulky teenage boy. "Let's get you a ride home," she began, using her hold on his arm to steer him toward the hall.

"No, I wanna see Caroline first," he protested feebly, the words coming out garbled in his half-awake state.

"The drugs they gave her for the surgery haven't worn off yet and you're practically asleep on your feet," Forbes explained, keeping a hand on the muscular arm of the quarterback to prevent him from taking another nosedive at the floor.

He opened his mouth to continue arguing but she cut him off, "Go home and get some sleep. Visiting hours are from 9 to 4, you can come back this afternoon and see her." She smiled to soften her words, not wanting to seem like she was throwing her daughter's boyfriend out of the hospital.

Matt nodded wearily, smothering a yawn with the back of his hand. Forbes promptly reached for the radio clipped to her shoulder and pressed the button to talk.

"Marcus," she spoke into the device, calling the V5 officer she'd posted as additional security at the hospital the night before, "come to the hallway outside the visitor's center and give Mr. Donovan a ride home."

"_On my way, Sheriff,"_ his disembodied voice crackled back over the channel.

A minute later, her deputy rounded the corner and began escorting the teenager toward the front entrance. She watched them go, smiling as Matt rubbed the back of his neck as he exited, trying to massage the kinks out of it from spending the night in that god-awful chair. She could definitely sympathize; the chairs in the hospital rooms weren't much better than the ones in the visitor's center. The blonde craned her own neck to the side, sighing when the vertebrae gave a satisfying pop.

Forbes grasped her radio again as she turned on her heel and walked back into the visitor's center to get her coffee. "Marcus, after you drop him off, go check in with the officers at the old Gilbert building."

"_Will do."_

XXX

Tyler Lockwood stared fixedly at a faint stain in the otherwise immaculate Persian rug on his living room floor.

The black-haired teen didn't know how long he'd been sitting there on the leather chaise longue beside the rug, it could've been for days or hours. Time had long since lost its predictable comforting rhythm for him. The usually rapid succession of seconds into minutes and minutes into hours had ground itself to a halt, leaving Tyler with the strong sensation of being mired in molasses. The world seemed to stand uneasily still around him, as though he were clinging for dear life to a rubber band pulled taut—waiting for it to either snap back into place and return everything to normal or break in half, casting him adrift in an endless procession of small eternities.

He remembered how ominously vague his mother had been over the phone when Sheriff Forbes instructed him to call her about his father, only telling him to come home immediately and that there'd been an accident. Logic had said that if his father were still alive Tyler should've stayed at the hospital—but he'd shut that niggling voice out.

His father couldn't be dead. He just…_couldn't._

As soon as she'd seen him, his mother broke down, collapsing into his arms and sobbing so hard that he could barely understand her. He'd never seen that meticulously crafted ice queen demeanor of hers slip like that before, so her reaction in and of itself let him know the impossible had indeed happened.

His father, Mayor Richard Lockwood, was dead.

Through her tearful babbling Tyler had managed to piece together that there'd been a fire at the Founder's Day party, some problem with old wiring in Grayson Gilbert's abandoned office building, and his father was the lone casualty. The deputy that'd driven his mother home had jumped into the conversation then, overly eager to fill in the rest of the blanks. Mayor Lockwood had apparently seen some teenagers go into the office before the fire broke out and gone in to rescue them. He'd managed to help them escape before a portion of the building collapsed, trapping him inside. His father had died a hero.

_Bullshit._

His father wouldn't have risked his life to save anyone, not even voters in a televised event on Election Day. There was something more to the story, something that was being covered up with a false tale of heroism, he could feel it in his bones. But Tyler had no idea what it was—or why there'd even need to be a cover up in the first place. Beyond the odd animal attack or a junkie's body turning up in the woods—he ignored the flash of Vicki's face that thought brought to mind—_nothing_ ever happened in Mystic Falls.

He hadn't shared his speculations with his mother though. She'd been too distraught to do anything but be helped up to her bedroom by the maid and given her sleeping pills. Tyler had sunk onto the brown chaise longue as they left and stared blankly at the stain on the rug, barely aware of the deep shadows of the night steadily fleeing the room with the appearance of the morning sun. Over that time, he'd wracked his memory trying to remember how and when the stain appeared, focusing intently on unimportant minutiae—an old tactic Tyler had employed since childhood to his keep tears at bay.

His father always said that tears were a weakness he couldn't afford. He was a Lockwood, and they didn't cry about their problems. They got over them.

His hands clenched around the edge of the cushions as he felt the sting of tears burning behind his eyes. Tyler clamped his lids shut and took a deep breath to calm himself, but to no avail. The throbbing beneath his eyelids intensified, it felt like a hot poker was being jammed straight into his retinas. He gritted his teeth, hissing out breaths as the pain began to spread, trickling like liquid fire through his skull and down his spine. Tyler was actually surprised his skin didn't split right down the middle of his back, sloughing off in sheets of blackened heat-curled flesh, the pain was so intense.

"Mr. Lockwood," a quiet voice interrupted his agony.

His eyes popped open to see the kind brown gaze of their middle-aged maid, Alice, trained on him—his mother had insisted on her instead of the barely legal blonde his father had preferred. "Are you all right, sir?"

"I'm fine, Alice. Thank you," he panted, blinking rapidly.

"Would you like some breakfast, sir?"

"I'm not hungry," Tyler cleared his throat gruffly, reflexively scrubbing a hand over his face only for it to come away slick with sweat.

She nodded and flashed him a sympathetic smile before disappearing from the room. He sighed tiredly and pushed himself to his feet, trudging toward the staircase and his bedroom upstairs. Not noticing the rows of deep gouges carved into the thick leather where his fingers had been as he went.

XXX

Elena Gilbert awoke from a fretful sleep, brow wrinkling in confusion at the rough, crinkling fabric poking into her cheek. She sat up in bed, throwing the sheets back to get a better look at what she was wearing. A pair of light blue surgical scrubs covered her legs and torso instead of her usual pajamas.

She sighed and let herself fall back against her pillows as the memories came flooding back. The deputies at the hospital had taken her clothes for testing the night before—a nurse had given her the scrubs to wear—after Johnathan had been declared legally dead.

Elena wasn't sure what she felt about him dying. There'd been the immediate shock and sadness of finding someone she'd known since childhood brutally murdered in her kitchen, but she'd never really liked her "uncle." And she'd only just begun to get accustomed to the idea of him actually being her father. So what could she feel? What _should_ she feel?

When Grayson Gilbert, the man who'd been her father for as long as she could remember, had died, it'd felt like the whole world had spun completely out of control and nothing made sense any more or ever would again. But with her birth father's death, Elena felt strangely hollow, as though mourning the loss of one father had deprived her of the ability to grieve for another. Besides, it would be disingenuous to suddenly completely alter how she saw the man simply because he was dead.

His death hadn't been heroic, he hadn't revealed any act of unknown generosity or kindness at the end. He'd been killed by a vampire after killing many others and attempting to kill both Stefan and Damon. Still, she'd shed a few tears for Johnathan Gilbert, but the main source of her sorrow was Jeremy.

Her brother was a _vampire._

No matter how many times she thought about it, or told herself he could learn to control it like Damon or Stefan did and that not all vampires were inherently bad, Elena simply couldn't come to terms with it. She wanted to be angry, to yell that Jeremy had made yet another life-altering bad decision like with the drugs and drinking too much. Like being with Vicki—she wasn't so sure if that choice had been bad before or after the girl had been turned into a vampire herself. She wanted to scream at him for not thinking about what this would do to Jenna and herself. But she couldn't find the strength to be angry. Every time her thoughts even touched on the subject of what her brother had done to himself, tears of guilt and sadness flooded her eyes.

She yearned to storm over to the Salvatore boarding house, find Jeremy and apologize until her voice cracked and broke. She wanted to tell him how sorry she was for having Damon erase his pain and memory of Vicki's death, for lying to him all these months about what she knew, and for not trying harder to find some way of reaching him before it was too late.

Elena felt tears slide down her cheeks and turned to bury her face in a pillow to muffle the wrenching sobs tearing through her. She gave herself over to the grief, crying for Jeremy, Jenna, and her own inability to genuinely mourn her father.

A knock on her bedroom door abruptly choked off her cries, followed by Jenna's voice timidly calling, "Elena? Are you awake?"

The teen hastily wiped the tears from her cheeks and breathed deeply through her nose to calm the sobs. "Yes," she replied quickly, wincing at the too high tone of her voice. It was painfully obvious she'd been crying.

"The police called. They're ready to take our statements down at the station."

"Okay, I'll be out in just a minute," Elena said, shoving herself out of bed.

"There's no rush, they understand that we're going through a tough time. They just want to get the investigation started," Jenna amended, voice pointedly soothing.

Elena skidded to a stop before her dresser. Her long dark brown hair was a complete mess, her tanned skin blotchy and streaked with the makeup she'd forgotten to remove last night—but that wasn't what captured her attention. She'd been so caught up in the situation with Jeremy and the fact that Johnathan was dead to see the obvious.

Unlike Vicki, Johnathan's body had been found minutes after he died, the knife still in his chest, no less. Of course the police would investigate his death. But for them it was a murder investigation, not a missing person's case that ended badly, and _Elena_ had been there. Panic began to creep over her, causing an icy sweat to break out across her back.

Was she a suspect? Or just an unfortunate witness? Either way, she needed to figure out what to say to the police. It wasn't like she could go with the truth. _Yes, Deputy, my vampire twin stabbed my uncle, really my father, to death in the kitchen because he was killing other vampires._ She'd be in a padded room or a jail cell by the afternoon if she told them that.

Elena fumbled with her cell phone on the nightstand, yanking it free of the charger and impatiently turning it on. She immediately pressed the speed dial for Stefan's number and tried to ignore the wild thoughts flying around in her head.

Why would they take her clothes if she were just a witness? Why didn't they take Jenna's clothes too then? They'd fingerprinted her too, what did that mean? Had they fingerprinted Jenna?

She was hyperventilating by the time Stefan answered, the most horrifying realization yet washing over her: Katherine, her doppelgänger, had killed Johnathan—did that mean the fingerprints on the knife would match Elena's own?

XXX

Jeremy jogged down the steps and into the foyer of the Salvatore boarding house, so focused on finding blood and alcohol—in that order—that he walked right into the bright morning light streaming in through a window. The pain was immediate and intense as it stabbed into the left side of his face and shoulder—a sensation strongly reminiscent of the time he'd been stoned in chemistry class and accidentally held his hand too close to the Bunsen burner, except this was far, _far_ more excruciating.

"Damn it!" he hissed, jumping away from the sunlight like a scalded cat.

"My bad," Damon called uninterestedly from his spot on the large brown leather sofa before the fireplace. "I meant to close all the curtains before you got up." He returned his attention to the tumbler of dark amber liquid in his hand as he finished speaking and took a slow sip. "But nothing teaches better than a little pain, I suppose," he mused with his usual lopsided smirk, lowering the cut crystal glass.

Jeremy cautiously closed the remaining distance between the foyer and the living room, sidestepping the shafts of sunlight cutting across the hardwood floors.

"Why can you sit there completely fine while I'm getting burned?" the younger vampire demanded angrily as he glared at Damon, lightly prodding the blistered flesh of his cheek.

"Because I'm cooler than you, young Skywalker," the elder Salvatore brother sighed in mock-seriousness, but relented at the thoroughly unamused expression on Jeremy's face. He rolled his eyes before continuing, "Dude, lighten up. It's my ring." He held up the hand with said ring to demonstrate. "It keeps me safe from the big bad sun. You, unfortunately, don't have one and I have no way of getting you one. But it's probably better that way."

"And why's that?" Jeremy questioned, still sulkily massaging his face.

"The sun gives me a foolproof way of keeping you out of trouble for a while because you physically can't leave the house during the day."

"Terrific," the teen groused, folding his arms over his bare chest and wincing when the motion pulled the sensitive flesh of his burned shoulder.

"Have a seat and I'll get you some blood," Damon instructed as he stood, gesturing to his vacated space on the couch.

"I'm not an invalid, Damon. I can get my own blood, just tell me where it is," Jeremy snapped.

"When you have an alcoholic in the house the _last_ thing you do is show them where the liquor cabinet is," the black-haired vampire replied simply.

"What the hell do alcoholics and liquor cabinets have to do with this?"

"You, my friend, are basically an alcoholic now. And blood is your drink of choice. So there's no way that I'm gonna just show you where we keep it. That'd be the quickest way to empty out our entire blood supply. So if you want a drink, I'll get it for you."

With that Damon exited the room in a blur of pale white skin and dark clothing.

Jeremy flopped onto the dark brown leather cushions with a frustrated sigh, staring into the flames as they danced in the fireplace but not really seeing them. All he could see was Anna. Anna smiling, Anna laughing, Anna the first time he kissed her, Anna clinging tightly to him as they made love, Anna screaming in pain the night she was taken away, and finally Anna the way he'd just dreamed about her—dead.

Before he consciously thought about moving, Jeremy found himself standing in front of the liquor sideboard with the decanter in hand, pouring an overly generous amount of what smelled like Scotch into a tumbler. He'd wanted blood first, but, what the hell, getting smashed before breakfast sounded fun too. And after all he was now an alcoholic, he might as well act like it.

XXX

Damon hurried up the steps from the basement, an armful of blood packets cradled securely against his chest. He was especially careful to soundlessly close the door behind him; if Jeremy heard where he came from all his efforts to conceal where the blood was kept would be for nothing. And then they'd need a hell of a lot more than just a padlock on the fridge to stop him.

"Elena, slow down. What's wrong?" Stefan barked into his phone as he entered the kitchen, the door that lead to the backyard slamming noisily shut after him. He threw back the hood of his black jacket, revealing the evidence of a recent kill still glistening on his lips—a Bambi and Thumper cocktail from the smell of it, Damon thought with a wry smirk. But the elder Salvatore still stopped cold in his tracks to hear what the problem was, and there was most definitely a major problem if Stefan had been prompted to abandon a hunt given his recently tenuous grip on the desire to feed.

He heard Elena take a shaky breath on the other end of the line before continuing, _"The police want me and Jenna to come down to the station today and make our official statements about what happened to Johnathan. And I don't know what to tell them, Stefan."_

"Just tell them that you came home and found him like that," the spiky-haired vampire replied, swiping an impatient hand across his mouth to remove the blood lingering there. Damon watched as Stefan eyed the crimson fluid on the back of his hand a little too intently before hastily wiping it on the side of his pant leg with a grimace. His brother hadn't fed enough, that much Damon could clearly tell.

"_But what about Katherine, Stefan? She looks exactly like me and she killed him. What if Jenna saw her in the house before Johnathan died? And what if she and I are so similar that even our fingerprints match? They have the knife and they took my clothes last night,"_ her words poured out in a breathless torrent, the underlying panic in her voice more painful to both Salvatores than vervain.

"What?" Stefan hissed, shock, concern, and hunger all blending together in his voice to distort his real meaning.

"_I'm so sorry,"_ Elena blubbered repentantly, mistaking his harsh tone for anger at her. _"I know I should've called you, but I was just so out of it and it didn't even occur to me what they wanted my clothes for at the time. Oh God, Stefan! They're checking my clothes for blood, aren't they? They think I killed him!"_

Her words were cut off by ragged sobs while Stefan merely stood absolutely still holding the phone to his ear, unable to wrangle his hunger and emotions enough to even speak.

That's the last _motherfucking_ straw, Damon thought angrily. In the blink of an eye he'd stomped across the room and wrenched the cell phone out of his brother's hands.

"Elena," he breathed calmly into the speaker, voice belying the livid expression on his face, "I'll be at your house soon, stall Jenna until I get there. Don't worry. I'm going to handle everything, I promise."

She gave a barely discernible whimper in response, but he knew that whatever he told her right now would definitely be more comforting than silence. Damon hung up and flung the tiny device at Stefan, the plastic cracking ominously as the vampire's hand flashed out and caught it. "You're not going anywhere near Elena," Stefan growled, face contorted into a nearly unrecognizable mask of hunger and anger.

"You don't have a choice in the matter," Damon snapped. "You going near anybody, _especially_ Elena, right now is a very bad idea. She's freaking the hell out and you're too hungry to have anything even resembling a handle on your emotions. You'd do her more harm now than good. The only thing you should do is hunt more furry _Disney_ characters until you get yourself under control."

Stefan glared darkly at his brother and Damon could see black veins begin to trail down the pale skin of the other vampire's cheeks.

"Look, the sooner you feed and calm down, the sooner you can see Elena," the black-haired Salvatore reasoned, trying to avoid a repeat vampire sparring match.

Damon could see the logic eat away at his brother's anger as Stefan closed his eyes and took a deep breath, willing himself to calm down. Face clearing, Stefan reluctantly nodded and sped through the back door toward the woods. A sigh of relief whooshed out of Damon's lungs as his brother disappeared behind the tree line; one major crisis averted, now he just had to deal with all the others. A tiny chuckle tumbled out from between his lips at the thought: exactly when the hell did he become the responsible one?

XXX

A sleek black 2008 Yamaha V-Star Classic 650 motorcycle sped into the Mystic Falls town square, rumbling to a halt in a narrow parking space before a nondescript shop. Elyse St. Clair slipped carefully off the back of the bike, removing her helmet while Caleb Arceneaux killed the engine then slung one of his long legs effortlessly over the side and stood.

"Aw hell," she muttered, glancing around at the surrounding buildings, "Anna died and went t' Mayberry."

Caleb chuckled at the jibe, removing his Aviators and hooking one of the gold earpieces into the collar of his gray T-shirt. "Always de heart and soul o' tact, _chérie_," he commented with a broad smirk.

The petite brunette glared at him archly, bright blue eyes flashing as she combed her fingers through her windblown long locks.

"Oh, don' worry dat pretty lil' head o' yours. I love y' despite your prickly attitude," Caleb jokingly cajoled, striding forward and wrapping his arms around her.

Elyse made a show of rolling her eyes as she fought off the grin pulling at her lips.

"B'sides, your other attributes more dan make up for what y' lack in sensitivity…" he leaned down and whispered in her ear as his hands trailed lower, slipping easily into the back pockets of her tight jeans and giving her ass a playful squeeze.

"As sweet as dat is t' hear, we got more pressing matters t' attend t' at de moment." She smiled wryly up at him, reaching back and extricating his hands from her pockets.

With an exaggerated groan, he allowed her to leave the circle of his arms. She giggled at the adorable boyish pout on his face and gave him a placating peck on the lips, careful to move a safe distance away before he could deepen the kiss.

"Tease," Caleb accused, staring after her as she pointedly sashayed around to the other side of the bike and untethered their belongings from the back of the passenger seat.

"Horn dog," Elyse shot back, slinging her messenger bag on over her black leather bomber jacket.

"_Touché_," he conceded with a shrug of his broad shoulders.

Grinning, the brunette stepped forward and lifted one of his wiry arms, winding it around her shoulders as they set off down the street together. "But y' _my_ horn dog," she murmured, reaching up to playfully ruffle the spiky rooster's comb of hair dipping low over his forehead.

Caleb pressed a light kiss against her hairline as they walked and asked, "Now dat we got de witty banter outta de way, what's de next phase o' de plan?"

Elyse shuddered at the sensation of his perpetual five o'clock shadow pleasantly scratching her skin as he spoke but managed to respond, "Now we find Grayson Gilbert, M.D. and pay him a lil' visit."

XXX

Jenna Sommers had just finished clasping her necklace and was reaching across her bureau for the bottle of perfume Elena had given her when an insistent knock on the front door interrupted her. Frowning, she hurried downstairs and opened the door to find a put out looking Damon Salvatore standing on the porch. Elena's aunt folded her arms stiffly across her chest and raised an annoyed eyebrow at the unwanted visitor.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she demanded, not bothering to check the anger in her voice. His being absurdly handsome in no way assuaged her irritation with Damon as she still vividly recalled catching him kissing Elena, his _brother's_ girlfriend, on that very porch the night before.

"I need to talk to Elena," he replied, gently edging his way past her.

"Seriously?" Jenna hissed incredulously, green eyes wide as she wheeled around to follow him into the house. "You can't honestly think I'd let you anywhere near her after what you pulled last night, not to mention with everything else she's going through right now."

"Look, last night was a _huge_ mistake…"

"Damn right it was!" She grabbed his leather clad forearm, jerking him to a halt.

He spun to face her, ice blue eyes narrowed in frustration. "I don't have time for this," Damon muttered, abruptly grabbing Jenna by her shoulders and leaning down to her eye level. "Are you wearing the perfume Elena gave you right now?"

"No, but what does that have to do with…" she began, brow furrowed in confusion.

"_Jenna,"_ the vampire spoke smoothly, eyes locked on hers, "_I want you to forget that you saw me and Elena together last night. When the police ask you what happened, you tell them Johnathan got home before she did. You were upstairs and came down after hearing her scream. When you got to the bottom of the stairs you saw a man you didn't recognize run out the front door. Elena was in the kitchen and Johnathan was already dead."_

She slowly reiterated his words with a faraway look in her eyes.

"_Jeremy came downstairs after you did, saw Johnathan on the floor, got freaked out by all the blood and bolted out the back door. He called you later and said that he was at Stefan's and not to worry. He just needed to get away from what happened. It reminded him too much of his parents' deaths. So you told him he could stay there for a while._

"_It's very important that you tell the police exactly what I told you, Jenna. Do you understand?"_

"I understand," the strawberry blonde replied.

"Good," Damon smiled, releasing her as he broke the compulsion. "I know you've both got a lot going on right now, but could I please talk to Elena for just a minute?"

"Sure," Jenna blinked rapidly, obviously disoriented as control of her own mind flooded back in a rush. "Elena's upstairs in her room, but try not to do anything to upset her, okay?"

"Wouldn't dream of it," the black-haired Salvatore assured her with a wry twist of his lips.

"Hey," she called him back halfway up the staircase, "how's Jer doing?"

"He's still upset, but I think it's definitely a good idea for him to just get away from this whole situation for a while," Damon responded with a half-truth, glad Jenna had given him the perfect opportunity to sell the teen's extended absence from home.

"Thank you guys so much for letting him stay with you. I wouldn't even know where to begin with him right now," Jenna admitted, voice breaking as she looked away, shame gleaming in her eyes over her insufficient parenting skills.

The sincerity in her voice tore at him, prompting him to continue, "You're doing the best you can, Jenna."

She merely nodded, fighting back tears as she walked away, leaving Damon staring after her on the stairs. God, he _hated_ caring, the vampire thought as he turned on his heel and strode up the remaining steps. It was too damn time consuming.

XXX

Elyse angrily shoved the computer keyboard away from her and looked up just as Caleb strode across the atrium of the Mystic Falls Public Library to her, a cat-that-ate-the-canary grin on his face.

"Any luck?"

"No," she huffed. "Dere's no existing phone number or address listed for a Grayson Gilbert anywhere in Mystic Falls. Y' find anything?"

"As a matter o' fact, I did," he bragged. "See dat overly perky lil' thing behind de desk," he turned and gestured to a blond girl who smiled and waved spasmodically at him—causing a scowl to etch itself on Elyse's face. "She was more dan happy t' tell me dat Mr. Grayson Gilbert, M.D. died in a car accident last May. And she even printed off dis old newspaper article for me." He pulled a folded up piece of paper out of his leather jacket's pocket and handed it to her.

Elyse ignored the phone number, name, and instruction to 'call me' that the blonde had inked to the top of the page in a gaudy pink script as she began to read.

"_**MYSTIC FALLS MOURNS**__… Prominent citizens Dr. Grayson Gilbert and his wife, Miranda Gilbert, tragically lost their lives yesterday when their car crashed into the lake below Wickery Bridge…" _She frowned and impatiently skimmed the rest of the article. _"They are survived by their son and daughter, Jeremy and Elena Gilbert. Burial services will commence at Mystic Falls Cemetery…" _

"Dat cemetery could be where Anna is. Someone could've buried her in or around his grave," Elyse muttered, yanking the keyboard forward and rapidly entering the name of the cemetery into a search engine for the address. She quickly jotted down the location on the bottom of the newspaper printout and immediately began striding toward the main entrance.

"Bye, Caleb!" the blonde called as they passed by her desk on their way out. Seeing the death glare the petite brunette he walked with was casting her, she attempted to subtly mime using a phone with her thumb and pinky finger to Caleb. The teen even ended the gesture with a wink, eliciting an eye roll from Elyse.

"Why do y' always have t' pick de annoying twits t' use your mojo on?" the brunette groused.

"C'mon now, _chérie_, dere was no mojo required. I'm simply irresistible." Caleb smirked, obviously pleased with the female attention he could so easily garner. To emphasize his point he flashed a mega-watt smile and waggled his fingers at the blonde before the doors closed behind them, cutting off their view of what Elyse was sure would be the girl swooning.

"Whatever y' say dere, Robert Palmer," Elyse shot back icily.

"Don' pout, _ma belle_. I prefer my women older and brunette," he murmured against the shell of her ear.

The sound of his deep voice rumbling in her ear combined with the heat of his breath on the sensitive skin there almost had her relenting, but she decided his ego could definitely stand some deflating at this point.

"What do y' mean _older_?" she ground out through clenched teeth, making sure to fill her voice with as much menace as possible.

Caleb spluttered for a moment, realizing he'd just dug himself into a _very_ deep hole. "Uh, what I meant was more mature, _chérie._ Dat young lil' _fille_ back dere would drive me nuts. Y' on de other hand are a mature woman. A gorgeous and very forgiving woman…" his words trailed off and a wonderfully contrite expression wiped all traces of a smirk from his face.

Elyse bit her lower lip to stifle the chuckle bubbling up her throat, but when his unsure brown eyes met hers, she was a goner. Blue eyes tearing, she leaned heavily against him as laughter shook her body. It took him a moment of supporting her to realize she was laughing and not crying or attacking him, then his dark eyes narrowed as he caught on. "Dat's not even funny_." _

"Y're right," she gasped between chuckles. "It was hilarious!"

"I actually thought y' were really pissed at me." Caleb pouted, folding his arms over the broad expanse of his chest and glaring at her.

"It'd serve y' right if I was, what with y' basically calling me a cougar after y' flirted with Miss Teen South Carolina over dere," Elyse shot back, cocking an eyebrow.

"Y' do realize dat people call Demi Moore a cougar and she's absolutely beautiful," he replied with a smile, catching her by the arm and nimbly twirling her into an embrace.

"Nice recovery, but does dat make y' de Ashton Kutcher t' my Demi Moore?" Elyse asked, looking him over in faux-distaste. "B'cause I think I'm getting de short end o' dis deal," she finished sarcastically, leaning forward on her tiptoes to meet his lips with her own.

XXX

Elena was in the middle of her bed with her knees drawn up to her chin, tensely rocking back and forth when Damon opened the door and entered. Her dark-haired head flew in his direction at the sound of her bedroom door opening and he didn't miss the clear disappointment flickering in her teary eyes that it was him—not _Stefan_—coming to her rescue. His jaw clenched involuntarily at that fact, but he forced his anger down. It wouldn't help the already boiling pot of emotions going on around her to add his to the mix.

"Elena," Damon began, voice low and soothing, much as it'd been when he'd tried to coax Stefan away from a bleeding teenage girl's neck, "everything's gonna be okay. I've already taken care of Jenna, all we have to do now is make sure your story matches hers."

"What do you mean 'taken care' of her?" she demanded, a sliver of her old fire peeking through, but the effect was ruined by her voice breaking.

"I just told her what to say is all."

"You mean you compelled her to lie to the police!" Elena hissed as she rose from the bed, her voice still raw but growing in volume.

"What the hell did you expect me to do, Elena?" he snapped, not sure why she was yelling at him but getting angry with her for being angry with him. "Between what she saw happen last night and the evidence the police have collected, it was either compel her or see if orange and baggy would be a good new look for you."

The brunette just stared at him with wide, angry brown eyes and then like a switch being flipped she collapsed in a sobbing heap on the bed. Damon was at her side in an instant, running one hand rhythmically over her back—a gesture he vaguely remembered his mother doing when he'd been sick as a boy. When her sobs didn't ease, he gently maneuvered Elena into his arms, tucking her face between his neck and shoulder as he silently stroked her hair and waited for her to cry herself out.

"I'm sorry…" she whimpered into his neck, "…didn't mean to yell at you…just so worried…Jenna and Jeremy…"

He could barely understand what she was trying to say through her sobs, but it didn't matter. The vampire just continued to comfort her, occasionally whispering to her that it was okay. After a few minutes, the steady stream of warm wetness dripping onto Damon's neck slowed and he brought her to face him.

She looked like hell.

The skin around her eyes was irritated to the point of being almost purple and the rest of her face was a blotchy Rorschach of colors. The blood was so close to the surface of her face that he could feel the air around her pulsing in time with her heartbeat. Hunger stirred within him, but he wasn't entirely certain if it was her blood he craved at that moment. That brief moment on the porch the night before when he'd thought he was kissing Elena flashed through his mind, egging his desire on.

Damon took a deep breath and slid slightly away from her to tamp down the hunger, the last thing she needed was to see his face vamp out when she was this vulnerable.

"Better?"

Elena hiccupped what might've been a yes, then nodded.

"What do I need to tell the police?" she croaked out a moment later, swiping the back of her hand over her soaked cheeks.

The vampire sped into the bathroom and reappeared with a glass full of water, which he then pushed into her hand. She attempted a grateful smile at him before drinking deeply. He waited until she'd downed most of the liquid to speak. "When you got home last night, your uncle was already at the house. You heard a noise in the kitchen so you went in to see what it was. Johnathan was on the floor, already dead, you screamed and then someone ran past you through the kitchen and went out the front door. You didn't get a good look at them because you were more focused on your uncle lying bloody on the floor.

"After you screamed, Jenna came downstairs. She found you and then Jeremy came down too. He got freaked out by the blood and ran out the back door. He called Jenna later and told her he was at our house, and she gave him the okay to stay there for a few days."

Elena lowered the glass with trembling hands, nearly sloshing what little water was left into her lap. "How should I describe the person I saw? You know they're gonna ask me for details." Her voice shook terribly, but at least some of the rasp was gone.

"Go generic: white male, mid-20s to early 30s, 5'9" to 5'11". Don't give a hair or eye color. Say he wore a hood so you didn't really see his face."

She nodded dutifully, but Damon could see that the strain of everything—Jeremy turning, Johnathan dying, Katherine returning, Stefan snapping at her, and now having to face the police and keep her story straight—was wearing on her.

"I could compel you too," he offered, cool blue eyes scrutinizing her carefully. "It might help keep all the details straight in your head. And…it might make things easier for you to deal with."

"Damon," Elena began, focusing an unblinking dark brown stare on him, "I know you're trying to help, and thank you for that, but I need to remember the truth. It's easier for Jenna to believe the lie and the police too, but I just can't. Katherine came into my house and did this to us. She could come back any time she wants and I need to be ready for that."

"I would put the truth back after you talked to the police," Damon argued half-heartedly, he could already see that stubborn determination of hers solidifying in that warm chocolate gaze.

"I can handle it, Damon. I'd let you compel me if I thought I couldn't," Elena replied simply as she sighed and stood. The teen wiped her nose on the back of her hand then combed her fingers wearily through her hair.

"I need to get ready." She waved him toward the door, reaching for her hairbrush to begin taming the rat's nest that was her hair.

The vampire was momentarily offended by her unceremonious dismissal of him, but let it go. She'd earned the right to be snippy for a while. "Stefan's not mad at you, just so ya know," he volunteered as he crossed the room to her door.

Elena stiffened a moment then shot back, "And who says I thought he was?"

"You're a terrible liar. The disappointment was written all over your face that I was the one that came to talk to you. Besides, I listened to your phone call with him earlier," Damon added that last bit with a shameless smirk.

A ghost of a smile crossed her lips as she shook her head slightly at his antics. "Why am I not at all surprised by that? Oh, that's right, because you're Damon."

That tiny expression of happiness from her right now was more than he could hope for, and if he had to make fun of himself or patch things up between her and his brother to keep her happy, he was more than willing to do that.

"This whole situation with Katherine and everything else just came at a really bad time for him. He's just now getting back into the swing of his whole a-bunny-a-day-keeps-bad-Stefan-away diet, plus he's majorly worried about you, so he got a little cranky. Don't worry, you guys will be back to being that lovey-dovey couple everyone secretly hates in no time," Damon explained, plastering a wry grin on his face to keep from scowling as he actually _helped_—he almost gagged at the thought—his brother.

Elena nodded, her entire expression brightening just a little. Complete with a real smile tipping up her lips this time. Damon turned on his heel to leave then, unable to stomach much more of the effects his supposed good deed had on her.

"Hey," she called out as he crossed the threshold, "how's Jeremy handling…_things_?" Her expression had grown slightly somber with the new subject, and he could hear the hesitancy in her voice.

"Pretty well, actually. He's only had a few minor blow ups so far and he's doing okay with the donated blood."

"How long do you think it'll be before I can see him?"

Damon thought for a moment, phrasing his response as carefully as he could before he spoke. "That's up to him, Elena." Her face fell and he immediately continued, "He just needs time to adjust is all. If we rush him, well…he'll end up saying or doing something he'd regret later."

She nodded and he started once again down the hall.

"Damon," she whispered, and he merely stopped instead of turning around, they both knew he'd still be able to hear her. He just didn't feel like facing her and seeing that resigned sadness his words—both what she'd just heard and what she didn't know he'd said to Jeremy—had caused her. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," he choked out, still facing away from her because the last thing he felt was okay with anything he'd said and done in this whole debacle and he was sure it showed on his face.

XXX

Elyse scuffed the toe of her black high-heeled biker boot on a chipped piece of sidewalk as she and Caleb trudged into the Mystic Falls town square. The cemetery had been an absolute bust. The ground all around Grayson Gilbert's grave was completely undisturbed and she hadn't felt even the minutest trace of Anna's essence anywhere near the place.

They were right back to where they'd started and out a few hours they didn't have to spare.

"Maybe dey just got de name wrong, _chérie,_" Caleb supplied helpfully, tightening his arm around her shoulders.

"No," she replied decidedly, chewing her lower lip in thought, "de _loa_ can be extremely vague and confusing, yes, but dey're never, _ever_ wrong."

He pulled her to a stop at an intersection, knowing instinctively that she was too distracted with things he couldn't see, let alone understand, to concentrate on where she was going. He'd learned the hard way before that just because those fathomless blue eyes of hers were staring straight ahead, that didn't mean she actually saw what was in front of her. A situation that'd more than once forced him to make a last minute rescue and prevent loss of life or limb for the woman he loved.

Why the hell the _loa_ always chose when she was chopping up something in the kitchen or crossing the street during rush hour to impart some greater bit of wisdom he had no damned clue. Maybe they just liked seeing Caleb do his best impersonation of a panicked _Looney Tunes_ character as he rushed to save her. Whatever the reason, it only gave further credence to his belief that whoever was up there controlling the universe was a sadistic little prick.

Once the street cleared, he urged her to continue walking but she remained rooted to the spot.

"What? What is it?" Caleb asked, instantly on edge—Elyse freezing like that never presaged anything good.

He'd expected to find her eyes glassy and unfocused, the way they usually got when she wasn't entirely with him on planet Earth, but to his surprise a very aware brilliant blue gaze turned to him instead. Grinning hugely, she tugged him the opposite way across the street.

"Like I said, de _loa_ are never wrong," Elyse declared, beaming triumphantly as she pointed to the burnt out husk of a building directly in front of them, the one remaining pane of glass left in the brick face emblazoned with: _"Grayson Gilbert, M.D."_

"Well, I'll be damned…" Caleb muttered, gaping at the building in awe. "Wanna go inside and check it out?"

"Dat may be easier said dan done, darlin'," she replied, grasping his arm to hold him back. "Apparently we ain't de only ones interested in de building." The brunette subtly jerked her chin toward the pair of uniformed sheriff's deputies roping the area off with yellow tape.

"Ain't even a problem_. _I'll just go tell dem we ain't de droids dey're looking for and dey'll let us right by," he said, starting again toward the building.

"Caleb, hold on a minute, okay," Elyse demanded in a harsh whisper, refusing to let him go. "We gotta be smart about dis. 'Member how Anna died? Dey used vervain on her _before_ dey staked her _and_ set her on fire. Obviously some o' de people 'round here know how t' deal with vampires, so we gotta be careful we don' go and do something t' draw attention t' ourselves. Like trying compulsion on someone who might wear or drink vervain."

"Den what do y' suggest we do, Hermione?" he shot back sarcastically under his breath.

She narrowed her eyes at his joke and unzipped her leather jacket, revealing the low-cut cobalt blue camisole she wore beneath. "Your charms worked on blondie back dere, but dis situation requires a woman's touch."

He gave her a nod of approval and gestured for her to go ahead. Elyse strutted toward the younger and more inexperienced looking deputy standing guard alone in front of the building, hips swishing provocatively and shoulders back to best display her busty figure. Caleb faked a cough behind his hand to cover his laugh when the young deputy's eyes literally popped as she approached him. He might've been jealous if the view from behind wasn't so good.

"Hi, Deputy…Michaels," she breathed, leaning forward farther than necessary to read his name tag. "My name's Mandy. I'm kinda new in town and I was wondering if y' could tell me what happened here?" Elyse gestured beyond him to the charred building.

"Uh, electrical fire last night," the young man choked out, fighting to keep his gaze level with hers.

"Oh! I hope no one was hurt," she gasped, putting a hand to her chest for dramatic effect and drawing his eyes back to her breasts.

"Um, just one. Our Mayor unfortunately, but he died saving some kids from the fire."

"How awful…" she cooed consolingly. "But if only one person died and y' already know how it happened why's a big, strong guy like y' out here standing guard?" Elyse batted her lashes innocently to take the seriousness out of the question.

Michaels smiled at her compliment but then remembered her inquiry. He cleared his throat and replied quickly, "Well, uh, the building isn't, um, stable and we don't want any thrill seekers to go inside and get themselves hurt, too."

If his words hadn't been completely unconvincing by themselves, the fact that he didn't look her in the eye as he said them sealed the deal.

"Oh, well y' be careful, Deputy. See y' 'round," Elyse grinned suggestively and started to turn away, only to _accidentally_ catch her foot on a piece of debris from the fire. Michaels, right on cue, reached out and steadied her. Her expression momentarily sobered but she quickly recovered, giggling self-consciously and saying, "Thanks. I'm such a klutz."

The petite brunette hurriedly waved and headed off down the sidewalk, acutely aware of the deputy's eyes following her as she went. She mouthed for Caleb to meet her around the corner so they wouldn't be seen together and invoke suspicion.

As Elyse turned into the dark alleyway she found her boyfriend already waiting for her, leaning casually against the brick wall of a building.

"Hi, my name's Mandy and I'm new in town?" Caleb mimicked with a chuckle, grin stretching ear to ear. "What, did y' decide t' make him think he was part o' a real-life porno?"

"Oh, don' even get me started on how y' sound when y' chat some girl up," Elyse retorted, pointedly raising one dark eyebrow.

"And what is dat supposed t' mean, _chérie?_" he bantered back, liquid brown eyes dancing.

"Think somewhere 'tween Pepe Le Pew and Gomez Addams," she replied with a smirk.

"Oh, dat hurts," Caleb groaned, grasping his chest in mock-pain.

"_Oh, vous pauvre bébé,"_ Elyse purred just to egg him on.

"Oh, Tish, dat's French," he joked, catching her palm and planting exaggerated kisses along her forearm as he dipped her backwards.

Genuine laughter tumbled past her lips as she let her head fall back, playing along with him.

"While y' do get style points for de trip and have him catch y' ploy, dat ain't exactly charming him into telling y' what y' wanna know per se. But now y' must tell me, _cara mia_, what did y' get from Deputy Dewey back dere? De suspense is killin' me," Caleb murmured, brown eyes peering intently out at her from beneath the crown of his spiky chestnut hair.

"Not much, _mon cher._ Just dat de good Mayor o' Mystic Falls isn't really de only victim o' de fire and dat dere's a police van parked behind Grayson Gilbert's building t' load all de bodies into—including Anna's." Her face broke into a contagiously victorious smile only interrupted by their lips crashing into one another's in celebration.

**A/N:** Okay, yes, I promised that Anna would be back in the next update, but technically this update isn't finished because it's a two-parter. I am sorry that it took me so long to update, but this chapter was very hard to translate from the way it was in my head (pretty much all visualized) to the page (words to describe the visuals). I had a lot of plot to get out of the way, but also a lot of character moments I wanted to show as well.

But in the meantime… How were my depictions of Sheriff Forbes and Tyler? I actually like both those secondary characters quite a bit and wanted to incorporate them more. Especially since they both have bigger roles in the ultimate plot of my story… ;-} The Delena moment just fell onto the page—how'd it work for y'all? Good? Bad? Painfully obvious? Jeremy and Damon's bickering as always was incredibly fun to write, hope it was just as fun to read.

Did y'all like getting a better look into Caleb and Elyse's life? I got a few readers who were interested in them and decided to expound a little on them. And what is the deal with these "_loa_?" Not to worry, all will be revealed in due time—as in the very next chapter. :-)

Oh, I dropped a reference to a film that _The Vampire Diaries_ series developer and writer Kevin Williamson was the writer for somewhere in this update. The first person that can correctly name the reference and film gets to make a request for later chaps! Happy hunting! ;-}

This update is pretty much half of what I already have written so the second part will be up VERY quickly.

Thanks for reading!

Sassy18


	5. Chapter Five: Ashes to Ashes, Part II

**Resurrection**

**A/N:** Here's the second part of Anna's return!

**Disclaimer:** Still don't own any part of _The Vampire Diaries_, but if I did Anna would've miraculously reappeared within the first few episodes and Johnathan would've died. Horribly and violently. ;-P I don't own any part of the film _The Wizard of Oz_ nor the songs "We're Off to See the Wizard" and "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead" that Damon parodies. I also am not a practitioner of voodoo but elements of the religion are detailed here. I've tried my best to accurately describe the religion, but there are fictional aspects I've added as well—see the author's note at the end for more info.

**Chapter Rating:** Mature (Language, violence, gore, and depictions of voodoo rituals)

**Special Thanks:**

** People who reviewed: **David Fishwick, cece1090, Replica Velocity a.k.a. X5 714, linkin4life, and HeronRainwater.

**People who alerted me as an author: **linkin4life.

**People who favorited me as an author: **linkin4life.

**People who favorited my story: **linkin4life, HeronRainwater, and BeginningDice.

**People who alerted my story: **linkin4life, HeronRainwater, and roxieknoxie.

**Written While Under the Influence of:** "The Vampire Diaries Parody" by the Hillywood Show, Nickelback-I'd Come For You, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus-Your Guardian Angel, Florence + the Machine-Howl, Eels-Fresh Blood, The Goo Goo Dolls-Iris, Breaking Benjamin-Give Me A Sign, Duffy-Breaking My Own Heart, Hypnogaja-Voodoo Baby, B.o.B feat. Rivers Cuomo-Magic, Red-Shadows, Finch-What It Is To Burn, Red-Breathe Into Me, Clint Mansell-Lux Aeterna, Red-Faceless, Fever Ray-The Wolf, and Teddybears-Cobrastyle (feat. Mad Cobra).

**Chapter Five: Ashes to Ashes, Part II**

"_Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection…"_

_-The Book of Common Prayer, Burial Service 1928 edition_

Elena Gilbert sat rigidly in the uncomfortable straight-back chair across from Sheriff Elizabeth Forbes' desk. The blond sheriff eyed her with a neutral expression from behind the desk while a stone-faced brunette deputy stared at her with outright suspicion across the room. The teen resisted the urge to fidget beneath the weight of the pairs of eyes trained on her. At least she'd been able to use the time they interrogated Jenna to mentally go over her own story a few more times, so hopefully she wouldn't blow it.

"Elena," Sheriff Forbes began, her soothing tone sounding exactly the same as when she'd delivered the news that her parents were dead. "I know this is a very difficult time for you, but we really need you to give us as much detail about last night as you can remember, okay?"

"Sure," the young woman sighed, fighting to keep her own expression as innocent looking as possible.

"Why don't you start with when you left the Founder's Day celebration," Forbes lightly prodded.

"Um, well I left at about 9:30 that night to go back to the school to pick up my costume from the parade and the rest of my things, but they'd been stolen."

"What exactly was taken?"

"Um, I thought it was my costume, a leather jacket and a makeup bag at first, but I found my costume and makeup bag at the house. Jenna must've gotten them for me, but my jacket is still missing."

"Why didn't you report this?" the brunette deputy probed, her narrowed eyes boring into the teen.

"Well, I, uh, told my boyfriend about it over the phone just as I got home but then with what happened next…well, it didn't seem all that important." Elena looked down at her hands, avoiding the penetrating brown gaze of the deputy.

"I understand, Elena," Forbes resumed the questioning again, shooting a warning glance at her deputy. "Please go on."

"I'd just hung up with Stefan, my boyfriend, and gone into the house. I was gonna make sure my brother, Jeremy, had gotten home from the celebration okay. I'd heard about the car accident just before I left the party and I'd asked Stefan on the phone to meet me at the hospital so we could check on Caroline," the teen looked directly at the sheriff then, watching as her eyes misted just a little. Elena then launched into the story Damon had told her to say, surprising herself as tears sprung unbidden to her eyes when she relayed finding Johnathan's body.

"Thank you, Elena. You've given us a lot to go on," Forbes said once she'd finished, gesturing for her to stand.

The teenager just nodded, forcing herself to rise slowly from the chair and not spring out of it like she really wanted to. "I hope it helps," she murmured, reflexively tucking strands of her long brown hair behind her ear. She turned gratefully to leave, but stopped in the doorway to ask, "Sheriff Forbes, how's Caroline doing?"

"Much better, Elena, thank you. She's been moved into recovery and can have a few visitors this afternoon," the sheriff replied, looking up from the papers on her desk with a fragile smile.

"Tell her I said hello, would you? With everything that's happened I'm not sure I'll be able to see her today," Elena explained, a genuine frown pulling the corners of her mouth down.

"Of course."

The brunette deputy watched the teen leave the room then turned to her boss. "I don't buy it."

"Oh God, Laura, please don't start," Forbes sighed exasperatedly.

"Don't you think it's awfully convenient how her jacket gets stolen and she doesn't tell anyone other than her boyfriend about it? Not to mention that the description she gave matches half the men in Mystic Falls."

"The girl found her uncle stabbed to death on the kitchen floor, how detail-oriented would you be?" the blonde shot back, exiting her office with the deputy hot on her heels.

"You mean you actually believed her sob story in there?" Laura demanded. "The fingerprints on the knife are a partial match for the ones she gave us last night for exclusion and she could've gotten rid of her jacket because she got blood on it."

"What about the rest of the clothes she voluntarily gave us? Any blood on them?" Forbes asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Just because they were clean doesn't mean she didn't do it," the deputy argued.

"And just because her prints are on the knife doesn't mean she did either. The knife came from her kitchen, I'm sure she touched it some other time and whoever killed Johnathan probably wore gloves."

"There's something off about her, I can feel it in my bones," Laura said decisively, folding her arms over her chest.

"Unfortunately your feelings aren't actual evidence. Nothing here points to Elena, so as far as I'm concerned she's in the clear."

Laura opened her mouth again and Forbes cut her off, "Deputy, I've known Elena since before she could walk, and that girl couldn't hurt a fly let alone murder her own uncle in cold blood. And I have no reason to believe that she would lie to protect whoever killed John.

"He made a lot of enemies here in Mystic Falls before he left the first time and he sure as hell didn't make any friends when he came back. Now if you're really that interested in this case, spend your time looking into real leads. But I want the Gilberts treated with kid gloves, you hear me? They're a grieving family, not suspects."

The sheriff's raised voice and sharp stare effectively put an end to the conversation and Laura clamped her mouth reluctantly shut and stalked to her desk.

Forbes breathed a sigh of relief as her deputy walked away. Laura was a good cop and normally she'd have agreed with her interpretation of the evidence so far, but this wasn't a normal case. Forbes had a feeling she knew who, or more precisely _what_, was behind this and it was better for Laura not to get involved.

She'd known that John's lunatic plan to eradicate all the vampires from Mystic Falls in one night was too dangerous—the fact that Richard Lockwood had been mistaken for one of _them_ made that painfully clear. But, if her hunch was right, John may've paid for his recklessness with his own life.

Forbes scrubbed a hand hard over her face, wishing for a shower and a few hours' sleep in her own bed. But that thought was quickly chased away.

She had a vampire to hunt down.

XXX

Elyse and Caleb watched the police van pull around the back of the station and two deputies exit the cab then begin unloading the black body bags. She'd seen the whole plan start to finish the moment Deputy Michaels had touched her back at the Gilbert building.

The remains of the vampires would have to be disposed of anyway, but because the mayor was mixed in with the other burned corpses, they'd all have to be examined first so that his family could bury the right person. The vampire bodies would then be driven out to an empty field after dark and unceremoniously dumped in a mass grave.

She and Caleb waited until the last body bag was unloaded into the basement of the police station to circle around to the front of the building.

"Y' ready for dis?" Elyse asked as they stood on the sidewalk outside the station.

"Always, _chérie._ Go on and work y' magic." Caleb's lips were curled into a lopsided smirk, but his dark brown eyes had already turned steely and calculating—a clear sign he'd kill anyone that so much as touched her if things went wrong.

The thought sent a shiver zigzagging down her spine but she ignored it, focusing instead on the two cars waiting on opposite sides of a nearby intersection for the light to change. Elyse held both her hands out in front of her and stared at the cars. Just as one light turned green and the car it signaled moved into the intersection, she brought both hands rapidly together—watching as the other car abruptly surged forward against the light and T-boned the first car. They skidded together, Elyse's gaze still trained on the cars and one hand sweeping along with them, until they slammed into a utility pole, toppling it in a shower of sparks.

The petite brunette let out a deep sigh and tore her eyes away from the wreckage, wobbling on her feet a moment before Caleb pulled her to him to steady her. Almost instantly, dozens of deputies scurried like ants out of the station and toward the accident. Caleb edged his way unnoticed through the crowd gathering to gawk at the crash and into the building with Elyse still pressed against him.

"Y' all right?" he whispered harshly in her ear.

"'M fine, just a lil' dizzy. C'mon, dat distraction ain't gonna last forever," she answered, pointing the way down to the basement.

A dozen or so black body bags lay in two rows on the concrete floor of the basement, each one indistinguishable from the next. Elyse strode slowly between the rows, hands outstretched above the body bags and eyes closed in acute concentration. She finally stopped and placed both hands on one bag halfway down the first row.

"Dis one. Anna's in dis one," she murmured, looking up at Caleb, the now glowing amulet hanging from her neck casting an eerie blood red halo around her.

He immediately scooped the bag up into his arms as though it weighed nothing and they both exited through the basement door. Elyse led the way to a black SUV parked around the corner from the station—Caleb had _convinced_ the owner of said SUV to let them borrow it for the day seeing as a body bag would be a bit conspicuous tied to the back of his motorcycle.

They gently loaded the body bag into the back of the SUV and piled in, Caleb gunning the engine the moment he slid behind the wheel.

"Where t' next?" he asked, glancing over at his girlfriend in the passenger seat.

"We can't pick up de last ingredient till after dark, but we can go ahead and get most o' de stuff set up in de meantime," Elyse replied, seeing that young man with floppy hair from her dream the night Anna died before her mind's eye instead of the street flashing by the windows.

XXX

Damon swept into the boarding house late in the afternoon—he'd made a pit stop at a blood bank three counties over to accommodate for himself and a hungry newbie vampire living under one roof—only to find his brother practically bouncing in his seat on the couch.

"So how's your day been, brother?" Damon asked, unable to resist taunting the other vampire.

"How's Elena?" Stefan questioned, springing to his feet and ignoring Damon's attempt to provoke him.

"Can't you ask about my day? Communication is the key to every relationship, ya know," the black-haired Salvatore teased, moving past his brother with the box of blood packs toward the basement.

"How is she, Damon?" Stefan repeated sternly as he followed Damon.

The elder Salvatore debated continuing to toy with Stefan, but relented at the expression he saw on his brother's face—it was all-too-reminiscent of how he'd looked 145 years ago when Katherine had been in danger. And despite his reputation, Damon didn't like to kick a man when he was already down, even when it was Stefan. It was much more enjoyable being the one that knocked him down in the first place.

"She's fine," Damon replied simply. "I compelled Jenna and coached Elena on what to say to the police. Now go call your girlfriend and make up already. She misses you," he spat the words out distastefully as he entered the basement.

Stefan stood dumbfounded a moment, did _Damon_ just give him sound advice about Elena? It would've been less of a shock had his brother told him he'd compelled Elena into believing she was a psychic waitress working in a restaurant owned by a shapeshifter, torn between a romance with two vampires and a werewolf. But when it became clear his brother wasn't playing an elaborate joke on him, Stefan's expression sobered.

"Thank you," he called to Damon's back, the words feeling almost foreign on his tongue directed at his brother.

"Yeah, yeah," the other vampire muttered, missing completely the smile that flickered across Stefan's face.

Damon heard his brother pull out his cell and begin dialing as he reached the bottom of the stairs. "God, I need to eat somebody fast before I turn into freakin' Mr. Rogers," he said to himself as he unlocked the fridge and began unloading the blood.

XXX

"That's great. Yeah, I'll be by later, okay? Uh huh, I love you too, Elena," Stefan spoke into his phone then hung up.

She sounded a lot better than she had that morning, but he could still detect a note of sadness and worry in her voice. His girlfriend had more than enough on her shoulders right now, but he was determined to help lessen that load somehow. It was the least he could do for being such an ass that morning.

Stefan had actually been well on the way to being completely in control of himself again, until last night. Then all hell broke loose. First, there was the general bedlam at the Founder's Day celebration. Then Katherine showed up, threatened Elena and paid him that ominous little visit. Of course there was Jeremy turning into a vampire, but the _pièce de résistance_ was Damon nonchalantly admitting to kissing Elena—or at least who he'd thought to be Elena. With all that to contend with it was no wonder Stefan could barely keep his hunger and, by extension, his emotions in check.

But that was no excuse. He'd find a way to get control, even if he had to slaughter an entire forest full of animals to do so Stefan wouldn't allow himself to blow up at Elena again.

"Well, now that you two crazy kids have made up all is once again right in the world," Damon interrupted his brother's musings as he entered the bedroom, his ubiquitous crystal tumbler full of Scotch in hand. "Did you start self-medicating again while I was gone? That would certainly explain the sudden return of boring, straight-laced Stefan and why the decanter downstairs is practically empty." He downed a gulp of the amber liquid and leaned against the doorjamb expectantly.

"Actually," Stefan began with a half-smile, mood noticeably better after speaking to Elena and that odd little moment with the other vampire downstairs, "that'd be Jeremy. By the time I got back from hunting he'd already downed about half of it."

"Don't tell me this means you're back to being the all holier-than-thou, infatuated-with-martyrdom, as-mentally-stable-as-freakin'-Hamlet Stefan on just straight animal blood again," Damon whined. "You know you were actually in danger of becoming slightly interesting since Katherine came back, but I guess now we're back to the standard three levels of Stefan broodiness."

"I'm probably gonna regret this, but what exactly are the three levels of Stefan broodiness?" The spiky-haired vampire cocked an eyebrow in question.

"Low, when nothing is rotten in your and Elena's particular state of Denmark. Medium, when you and Elena hit a bump in the yellow brick road of your relationship. And high, for when you get all jealous and insecure because your girl just might like me better than you," the elder Salvatore replied, furrowing his brow a bit more with each successive level.

"So where is our little vampire lush anyway?"

"His room," Stefan responded, taking a deep resigned breath. "We should probably talk about how we're going to handle Katherine."

"What's to talk about? We watch out for Elena, keep vervain and stakes handy and if Katherine doesn't play nice…we kill her," Damon shot back, clicking his tongue as he mimed the act of staking.

"Do you think you'd actually be able to just kill her, Damon? After all you've spent almost a century and a half being in love with her," the younger Salvatore asked, gauging his brother's response carefully.

"I'd be more worried about you with your whole 'killing is wrong' fixation. We both know I don't hesitate," the black-haired vampire hedged.

"Katherine crossed the line the moment she came near Elena. That's all the justification I need to kill her, but we have to be realistic about this. She's not going to just stand there and let us stake her," Stefan replied, jaw firmly set.

"So what, you wanna practice some vampire brother tag team moves? Last night you were so insanely jealous you were ready to literally tear my head off." Damon smirked, blue eyes flashing provokingly.

Stefan rose from his desk and crossed the room in a blur, stopping right in front of Damon. "That was when I thought Elena had allowed you to kiss her. Now I know better. She'd never let you touch her." The brown-haired vampire stared self-assuredly into his brother's face, wiry arms folded over his chest.

"So I don't have anything to be jealous of. Now do I, Damon?" Stefan thumped the other vampire on the shoulder as he strode out of the room.

XXX

Jeremy knelt on the floor of his bedroom in the Salvatore house, flinging various articles of clothing pell-mell over his shoulder as he dug through his backpack. He finally found what he was looking for at the very bottom. He stumbled across the room to the bed, his sketchbook firmly in hand.

He didn't want to think of how or why Damon had thought to pack it for him, focusing instead on not falling off the bed as he attempted to sit on it. The inebriated teen flicked the worn cover open, shuffling rapidly through dozens of random doodles and sketches until he flipped a page and found himself staring into a beautiful pair of eyes etched in charcoal.

Jeremy had drawn it after Duke's party in the woods by the old cemetery. He hadn't been able to sleep that night and decided to while the hours away with sketching whatever happened to pop into his head. But he'd soon found himself tracing two perfect almond-shaped eyes filled with warm brown irises. He'd spent half an hour getting the shape just right and then a full hour trying to imbue the drawing with whatever indefinable emotion it was in those dark orbs that'd somehow spurred him into kissing a girl he claimed to think of as just a friend.

A girl he'd come to suspect as being a vampire earlier that very night.

At the time, Jeremy had tried to convince himself it was what he'd seen Anna's face change into—those dark veins that'd appeared on her cheeks—that had him staying up into the early hours of the morning obsessively drawing her eyes in his sketchbook like a schoolgirl doodling her crush's name. But deep down he'd already known that something between him and Anna had shifted and he hadn't liked it.

He'd pointedly reminded himself that he loved _Vicki_, he missed _Vicki_, he wanted _Vicki_—not some cute vampire/stalker chick.

But said cute vampire/stalker chick had still managed to muddy his motivations somehow. Jeremy had truly meant it when he told Anna he liked her that day in the Grill, he did, it was just he'd still loved Vicki. He'd loved her all the way up until the moment he'd found out she was dead. But it wasn't until he'd seen the devastated expression on Anna's face when she put the pieces together that Jeremy had been using her to try and become a vampire to find Vicki then felt a resounding pang deep inside himself for her pain that he'd realized just how deep his feelings for her had become.

And then he'd turned into the closet-stalker dude.

Calling just to hear her voicemail but never leaving a message, starting countless texts he didn't have the courage to send because what could he really say? Jeremy had hurt her more than he'd thought fiery, vibrant Anna could be hurt. So, as before, he'd taken to drawing.

The pages immediately after the sketch of her eyes were all filled with portraits of Anna. He'd drawn her over and over again from memory. Anna laughing after they bumped heads the first time they met in the library… Anna staring up at him almost shyly just before he kissed her in the woods… Anna pressed back against the countertop in his kitchen, eyes alternately pleading and hungry, as he tempted her with the bloody cut on his palm... But with each sketch Jeremy had seen all the more clearly in his mind's eye the stricken expression that'd been on her face that night in his bedroom. He'd avoided drawing her like that for days, but finally gave in. Indelibly etching the pain he'd caused her onto the page in harsh black and white.

Jeremy was almost surprised to feel the tears sliding down his cheeks. This was the first time he'd cried since Anna had been killed. He'd tried to drown the sadness and guilt gnawing away at him with blood and Scotch, but apparently he hadn't drunk enough of either.

He allowed the tears to fall in the privacy of his bedroom, with only his sketch of Anna to bear witness to his grief.

The tears dripped off his cheeks and onto the page, trailing over Anna's paper and charcoal visage as though she were crying along with him. Jeremy cradled his sketchbook against his chest, wishing it were the flesh and blood woman he'd lost.

Wishing he'd been able to save her.

Wishing he'd told Anna at least once that he loved her.

With the knowledge of Vicki's death all he'd felt was the need to destroy—destroy his research, destroy everything associated with his quest to reunite with her—but with Anna… With Anna, all Jeremy wanted to do was hold onto every memory, every scrap of connection he had left to her and never let go.

And for a vampire, the concept of never letting go was much more than mere hyperbole.

XXX

A sharp knock on the heavy wood door of the Salvatore boarding house hit three sets of vampire ears at the exact same moment. Jeremy glanced up at the sound, but just as quickly disregarded it—there wasn't anyone on the planet he particularly wanted to see right now. Stefan headed downstairs to answer the knock only for Damon to beat him to it, swinging the door open and revealing an attractive brunette woman on the darkened stoop. Clearly in her late-twenties, she was petite and curvy with long dark hair that curled pleasantly over her shoulders and down her back.

"Hello," Damon purred, leering suggestively at her and throwing back what was left of his Scotch. "Please be a damsel in distress."

A tiny smile quirked the raspberry colored lips of her heart-shaped porcelain face as she focused an intent blue gaze on him. "Not quite. I'm looking for Jeremy Gilbert," she replied evenly.

"He's a little young for you, don't ya think?"

"Dat all depends on what y' think I want him for," the brunette shot back.

"Do tell," Damon murmured, trying 'that eye thing' Elena claimed he did on the woman.

"It's about Anna."

The black-haired vampire's expression wavered for a moment but he quickly recovered. "Well, Jeremy's not here right now. Why don't you leave a message with me and I'll make sure he gets it," Damon offered with a reassuring grin.

"Y're lying," she returned simply.

"What makes you say that?"

The brunette pretended to think about it for a moment then answered, "Well, maybe b'cause y're a vampire named Damon Salvatore. But mostly b'cause I can see him right behind y'." She finished with a smirk.

Damon glanced over his shoulder and sure enough, there Jeremy was standing at the bottom of the stairs—well, at least the kid had mastered the concept of stealth if not good-timing.

"You knew Anna?" the teen panted—having rushed headlong out of his bedroom the moment he heard Anna's name—the beginnings of wild hope forming in his eyes.

"Yes, I'm an old friend o' hers. I came here as soon as I found out about her death," the woman answered, turning a solemn glance toward Jeremy.

"You expect me to just take you on your word about all that and invite you in?" Damon interrupted, taking a menacing step forward. "If you know so much about what's going on around here then you know that we have cause to be a little on edge."

"I don' have t' be invited," she responded, not backing down. "'M not a vampire."

"Then you must be pretty stupid to knowingly walk into a house full of vampires alone."

"Who says she's alone?" a male voice questioned from behind the woman.

A tall, rangy young man with longish spiky hair strode out of the shadows and stopped right behind her, his dark brown eyes boring directly into Damon's. The new arrival didn't say anything more, just flashed a pair of gleaming white fangs as black veins crept over his cheeks. Damon just raised an eyebrow, attempting to look unfazed by her vampire protector.

"Now, now, boys let's try t' be civilized," the brunette interrupted the staring match. "We just wanna have a lil' talk with Jeremy, dat's all," she explained, drawing Damon's gaze once again toward her.

"I don't think so," the black-haired Salvatore bit out, eyes flashing threateningly.

She took a deep sigh, then narrowed her eyes at Damon as she spoke, "Sorry, but I don' have de time or de patience t' play nice and explain everything t' y'."

Just as Damon was about to ask what the hell she was talking about, an explosion of all-too-familiar pain ripped through his skull and he dropped to his knees on the floor, hands clasping desperately at his temples. Stefan immediately launched himself at the woman only to collapse halfway to her, a howl of agony escaping his lips.

Jeremy began edging his way back toward the stairs, watching helplessly as the Salvatore vampires writhed in pain on the floor.

"Don' be afraid," the woman spoke, lifting her blue eyes to his for a moment. "Dey'll be just fine after I stop."

"Who the hell are you people and what do you want from me?" the teen hissed, baring his own fangs.

"My name's Elyse and dat's Caleb," she jerked her thumb over her shoulder to the other vampire, "like I told y', we're old friends o' Anna's."

"And I should believe that why?" Jeremy shot back skeptically.

"What if I told y' I could bring her back?" Elyse asked sharply, blue eyes meeting his once again. "Exactly as she was b'fore she died. Just how far would y' be willing t' go t' save her?"

Hope surged in Jeremy, overriding all logic and instinct of self-preservation, and he immediately sped across the room to her. "I'd do whatever it takes to bring her back."

"Good answer," she replied with a smile. "But we don' have very much time left. We need t' get going."

As soon as Elyse finished speaking Jeremy tried to move past her out the door, but she caught him by the arm and held him back. "Y' might wanna change into something a lil' more weather appropriate first. We're gonna be outside for a while." She gestured to his thin T-shirt and sweatpants.

"Yeah, sure. Just a sec," the teen said before disappearing upstairs.

"Does he have what we need?" Caleb stepped forward and whispered in her ear so low only she could hear.

She merely nodded, a satisfied smile curling her lips.

Jeremy breezed back into the room then, pulling a black coat on over a long-sleeved black thermal and a dark pair of baggy jeans. "What about them?" He nodded to Stefan and Damon still rolling around in pain on the floor.

"Don' y' worry none about dem. Dey'll be right as rain in no time," Elyse assured him, waving him along ahead of her out the door.

"So what exactly am I supposed to do? I mean you're a witch, right? Why do you need me?" Jeremy asked, glancing warily between the woman and the other vampire as they lead him toward an ominous-looking black SUV parked in front of the house.

"How'd y' know I'm a witch?"

"I've read about witches being able to do stuff like what you just did in there," he replied vaguely, realizing that telling these people that his sister's best friend was a witch also might not be the brightest idea. If this witch and vampire were dangerous he didn't want to get Bonnie or Elena mixed up in things—he knew trusting them was a risk, but it was one he was taking alone and he'd accept any and all consequences of his decision himself.

"Interesting reading material for a sixteen-year-old," she observed, an eyebrow raised doubtfully, "although de term _mambo_ might be a bit closer t' de truth, but dat's not important.

"Look Jeremy, while I may have de power t' cast a resurrection spell, I can't do it alone. I need a strong connection t' Anna from when she was alive t' help guide her back t' her body—dat'd be y'. Anna loved y' enough t' protect y' by giving y' her blood. Can't think o' a much stronger connection dan dat," Elyse explained, coming to a stop beside the large vehicle.

Jeremy nodded, unable to speak past the lump her words had caused to form in his throat—Anna had risked everything for him and he'd repaid her by standing idly by and letting her die. A mistake he would soon rectify, the teen thought, jaw clenched resolutely as he opened the door to the backseat and swung himself into the SUV.

XXX

Neither Damon nor Stefan were able to lift themselves up off the floor until long after they'd heard a car engine start and speed away from the house—a vehicle Jeremy was presumably in.

"Son of a bitch," Damon hissed, massaging his temples as he shoved himself to his feet. "How many more damn witches are gonna pop out of the woodwork and drop me on my ass? It's like the fuckin' _Wizard of Oz_ around here all of a sudden."

"Less talking and more tracking down the teenage vampire _you_ are supposed to be looking after," Stefan spat, stalking toward the door and angrily yanking his jacket off the coat rack along the way.

"Don't you mean _we_, brother?" Damon retorted, following along after him. "I don't think Elena would see much of a distinction in this situation, do you?"

The other vampire just raised a single finger in his brother's direction in lieu of an answer.

"_Oh, we're off to kill the witch. Which old witch? That twangy little bitchy witch_," Damon sang under his breath, smoothly sliding on his own leather jacket as he followed Stefan outside.

XXX

The SUV rolled to a halt deep in a stretch of woods outside Mystic Falls that Jeremy was completely unfamiliar with.

"Hey Jeremy, help me out back here," Caleb instructed as he exited the cab and popped open the hatchback. The two of them maneuvered the black body bag out, cradling opposite ends as they walked.

"Is…Anna in there?" the young Gilbert asked, barely able to form the words let alone stomach the thought of her being tossed into what looked like a giant garbage bag with a zipper running down the middle—as though she could just be disposed of like so much trash. He forced the anger and disgust that thought ignited within him down, going berserk right now would most decidedly not be helpful.

"Yeah, but she won't be for much longer," the other vampire replied, flashing a reassuring grin that lightened his features and revealed just how young he really was—only a year or two older than Jeremy himself.

"Set her down over here," Elyse called, striding past them into a clearing with a bulky messenger bag firmly in hand. The clearing was immediately illuminated as they entered, dozens of white wax candles flaring to life with a mere wave of the witch's hand.

The two male vampires gingerly laid the body bag to rest before a raised bit of dirt on the ground, Jeremy's hands lingering on the thick plastic while Caleb immediately moved away. Jeremy had missed Anna so much that all he wanted was to be close to her, but as they carried her he'd heard a stomach-turning squishing sound and then felt something smooth and hard poking against his hand, what he awkwardly realized was part of a ribcage sans flesh. He'd had the immediate urge to drop the bag and vomit—could he even do that anymore?—but forced himself to hold on.

He stood slowly, taking a deep breath to steady himself. That's not a body in there, that's _Anna. His Anna,_ he reminded himself sternly.

Jeremy could hear Elyse and Caleb talking and bustling about behind him, getting things ready for the spell presumably, and turned back to them. "What can I do?" he questioned, eager for something to distract him from thinking about exactly what was in the bag.

"Caleb and I have everything pretty much under control for now, but I'll let y' know when it's time for your part," Elyse said, looking up at him as she flipped the pages of a thick leather-bound book.

Jeremy shoved his hands into his pants' pockets and stood off to the side watching as Caleb headed back to the SUV and returned with a small water cooler. It was then that the teen noticed that something had been dug into the ground all around them. At first it all just looked like a bunch of random circles and lines with some curlicues, but after staring more intently at the ground he could see where the lines intersected, how the circles sometimes mingled with those lines, and where the curlicues branched off from larger pictures.

"What are all these things drawn into the ground?" he asked, feeling annoyed—and a little uneasy—that he knew so little about what was going on.

Elyse glanced up from her kneeling position on the ground before what he finally recognized as a makeshift altar and pursed her lips like she was considering ignoring him, but eventually answered, "Dis symbol 'round me and Anna is a circled pentagram. It's used for protection. Y' and Caleb will need t' stay outside o' it till I tell y' otherwise. De spirits I gotta conjure will get… _irritated_ if y' interfere.

"Up and t' de left o' de circle is de _vever_, uh, symbol for Papa Legba—_loa_ o' de crossroads." Jeremy followed to where her finger pointed and could barely make out a cross carved into the dirt with a slash through the right arm, adorned with eight-pointed stars and curling lines. "Legba is de _loa_ dat guards de gateway 'tween dis world and de world o' de spirits. He allows other _loa_ t' pass through and commune with us, so he must be invoked first or no other _loa_ can be summoned.

"T' de right o' de circle is de symbol for Mait' Carrefour—_loa_ o' witchcraft and lord o' de crossroads. He's sorta de antithesis o' Legba but he too controls de passage o' de _loa_ and he also aids in spellwork."

That symbol was similar to the previous one, except a circle was drawn around the center of the cross and the points had prongs that jutted outward.

"Lastly is Baron Samedi—father o' de Ghedes, he is de _loa_ o' Death, making him de last resort in matters of healing and resurrection. With his help I can restore Anna," Elyse explained, placing the old leather-bound book down on the dirt altar.

Jeremy looked to the bottom of the circled pentagram to see the last symbol: a cross positioned atop a tomb with two coffins on either side of it.

Elyse gently unrolled a sheet on the ground before the altar—patches of white, purple, red, and black bled one after the other across the cloth—and began carefully placing objects reverently atop it: a shallow basin filled with water, twin platters piled high with fruit, and a long knife with blades on both sides.

Just as he was about to inquire exactly what the hell those were all for the witch abruptly stood and asked Caleb, "We all set?"

Nodding, he handed her a mason jar filled with thick, dark liquid which she set aside on the cloth as well. "Pentagram and _vevers_ drawn, check. Blood, check." He gestured to the small water cooler he'd brought out earlier sitting beside the altar. "Jeremy, check. Y' and de grimoire, check. We're ready when y' are," Caleb replied, taking his girlfriend's shoulders in his hands and turning her fully toward him, crouching down to rest his forehead against hers.

"Please be careful," he murmured, brown eyes staring earnestly into blue.

"Y' know I will," she promised, smiling reassuringly up at him.

"_Je t'aime, __chérie_."

"_Pour toujours je suis le votre__,"_ Elyse whispered back before the vampire pulled her into a passionate kiss that had Jeremy pointedly looking away and clenching his jaw.

Caleb released her reluctantly and strode outside the circled pentagram, pulling Jeremy along with him.

"What are all those things on the cloth for?" Jeremy questioned the older vampire in an undertone.

"Y'll see," Caleb replied without looking at him, his dark eyes focused gravely on the witch.

Elyse flashed him one last smile then grabbed the mason jar from the altar. She unscrewed the lid, the scent of blood reaching Jeremy's nose as she began to go around the circle, drizzling the dark red liquid slowly over each design etched into the earth. The young vampire was surprised not to feel hunger stir in him at the smell, but it was off somehow—borderline revolting actually.

"Dat's chicken blood," Caleb answered his unasked question, nose wrinkled in distaste. "I know it smells horrible, but dat's 'cause it's almost a day old. We had t' do de sacrifice in New Orleans and bring de blood up here with us."

Returning to the point of the circle where she'd begun, Elyse knelt back in front of the body bag. She leaned forward and slowly unzipped it, gently folding the thick plastic back and away from Anna's body. Jeremy focused all his attention on the witch's face, not allowing himself even a glance at the revealed contents of the body bag. Elyse's expression thankfully didn't change, she merely glanced into the bag, reached again for the mason jar and smeared the remnants of the blood inside it on her fingers.

She trailed her bloody fingers across Anna's forehead almost like a priest anointing someone on the edge of death, lips moving wordlessly, then set the jar aside. The witch reached next for the shallow basin, gently swirling the water within as she continued to whisper so quietly Jeremy couldn't hear her.

Elyse sat back on her heels with her eyes closed, taking a deep breath before letting her head fall back, a loud chant in a language Jeremy couldn't understand bursting from her lips. The instant she spoke each design in the ground that she'd poured blood over burst into flames. Jeremy jumped at the sight of the fire, but Caleb grabbed his arm to keep him still.

"Relax, dat was supposed t' happen. She just summoned Papa Legba," the other vampire explained, gaze never leaving Elyse.

A shriek of agony shattered whatever comfort Jeremy had found in those words and he looked toward the source only to find the witch, twitching on the ground, arms and legs contorted at painful angles. He immediately stepped forward, not sure what he intended to do, but Caleb's ironclad grip on his arm didn't let him get very far.

"Dis part's supposed t' happen, too," Caleb bit out, every muscle in his face and neck pulled taut. "It'll stop in a minute." A muscle in his jaw jumped as his girlfriend screamed again.

But sure enough, the horrible screams stopped with another chant. Elyse slumped forward on all fours over the basin and platters, blue eyes fluttering beneath her lashes and loud hissing noises escaping her lips.

"Dis is de salute t' Damballah Wedo, serpent father o' all _loa_. He's what de bowl o' water's for, snake spirits like water. De plates o' food are for Marassa, de sacred twins symbolizing de balance."

Jeremy reluctantly relaxed and allowed Caleb to continue his narration of the events unfolding before him, deciding that if the man next to him could watch the woman he clearly loved go through all this, the least he could do was stay put and wait for his turn. He wondered just how much his role in the spell was going to hurt—a part of him actually hoped it would be extremely painful, it was the least he deserved for his part in Anna's death.

The hisses died off when Elyse spoke that same foreign language again—it sounded sort of like French, but with a heavier, harsher intonation to it.

"Mait' Carrefour, he'll help give her de power t' complete de spell."

The instant the words left Caleb's mouth the wind picked up around them, leaves tearing free from their branches and swirling around the circle. The light from the moon overhead seemed to intensify, turning Elyse's already pale white skin nearly transparent as she crouched down even farther on the ground, fingers digging into the dirt.

With her last chant everything seemed to darken around them, even the candles and flames seemed to grow dim. Elyse flung herself back onto her knees, a moan escaping her lips as her body began to buck, almost like she were…

"De last _loa_ t' be summoned is always Baron Samedi. He doesn' just control access t' de world o' de dead, he's also de _loa_ o' eroticism, so dat's why Elyse looks like she's, uh…" Another much louder moan from the woman in question broke off his explanation and Caleb released Jeremy's arm, a look of intense embarrassment on his face as he shoved his hands deep in his pockets. Jeremy averted his eyes until the moans stopped, not wanting to make this situation any more awkward than it already was.

"Jeremy," Elyse hoarsely whispered, blue eyes clear and focused as control of her own body returned to her. "It's time."

The teenage vampire took a deep breath and approached the pentagram, careful not to step too close to the still burning symbols. He hesitated just outside the circle, Elyse's earlier warning not to cross over it sounding in his ears.

"It's safe now, Jeremy. De _loa_ won't harm y', I promise."

He set his jaw and strode across the circle, the flames parting to allow him entrance then closing after him. The witch popped the top of the water cooler as he reached her side and removed one of the dozen or so blood packets inside, slicing it open with that two-sided blade and pouring the dark red liquid into the body bag. Jeremy felt the hunger stir as his fangs instantly descended, but fought the urge to yank the packet out of her hands and drain it himself. He bit down on his lower lip as she hurriedly repeated the process until the sides of the body bag were literally sloshing with blood.

Elyse stood, bloodstained knife in hand, and faced the young vampire.

"Hold out your arm," she commanded.

For the first time, Jeremy actually considered backing out of this. Having some mystical spirit attack him was one thing, but the witch was holding a very real, very sharp knife that she clearly planned to use on him. Every instinct in his body was screaming at him to get the hell out of there, but what good was living—especially living forever—if he had to do it alone?

The young vampire resolutely set his jaw and began rolling up his coat and shirt sleeve, extending his bare forearm to the witch. His dark brown eyes bore into her haunting blue ones, daring Elyse to do her worst. If she wanted his blood she could have as much as she wanted. Or if it was a pound of flesh, he was more than willing to give it. Anna was worth whatever price needed to be paid.

But before the witch could even touch him, a loud crack broke through the silence of the forest. Both Jeremy and Elyse looked toward the source of the noise only to find that they were suddenly alone in the clearing.

"Caleb?" she questioned, a note of fear in her voice.

The sound of footsteps approaching through the underbrush met their ears as Damon Salvatore came into view, tugging Caleb along in front of him, one hand clamped around his throat while the other pressed the tip of a wooden stake against the other vampire's chest.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Miss Cleo. Not if you don't want me to turn your boyfriend here into a flesh and blood voodoo doll," Damon sneered, jabbing the point of the stake into Caleb's chest for emphasis.

The witch merely narrowed her eyes at them and the sharpened piece of wood ignited in his hand, forcing him to fling it away or risk the flames spreading up his arm and giving Caleb the opportunity to throw Damon off of him. The two vampires then faced off, both crouched down with fangs bared.

"Dat all y' got?" Elyse shot back, an eyebrow raised in challenge.

"No," Stefan's voice sounded from behind the witch, "he's just the distraction. I'm the one you really have to worry about." The spiky-haired Salvatore launched himself snarling over the flaming pentagram toward Elyse, but the flames leapt up of their own accord, sending him flying backward into the trunk of a thick tree. He landed on the ground in a heap with visible burns covering every inch of his face, hands and neck.

"De next one o' y' dat interferes gets lit up like a Christmas tree," the witch warned, blue eyes darkening. "A human soul can ordinarily be called back within three days o' deir mortal death. But Anna's a vampire—no longer mortal—so she could have even less time dan dat. Or more, I don' exactly know. So it'd really be great if de two o' y' could butt de hell out and let me finish de spell b'fore it's too late!"

"We can't let anything happen to Jeremy, even if it would bring Anna back," Damon replied, not taking his eyes off Caleb as they warily circled each other.

"And who says I was gonna hurt him?"

"That knife of yours doesn't exactly scream nonviolence," the black-haired Salvatore bit out.

"I have no intention o' doing anything dat would cause him any real harm," Elyse promised.

"And I should believe that why?"

"B'cause if I'm lying y' can tear both my and Caleb's hearts out. Deal?"

Damon straightened, holding his hands palms out in surrender. "Sounds fair enough to me, but if you are lying just know that I'll be starting with your boyfriend here." He smirked at the prospect of carrying out said threat then slowly made his way past Caleb to check on Stefan—who despite the burns, which were already healing up, was fine. Unconscious, but otherwise fine.

Elyse stepped forward and wrapped her fingers gently around Jeremy's wrist then dragged the blade along the inside of his forearm, not cutting too deeply into his pale skin, just opening the flesh up enough to make it bleed. She guided his arm over the body bag, fingers massaging the skin around the cut to keep the blood flowing.

"That's it?" Jeremy asked when she released him, almost disappointed that one tiny cut was all he had to suffer.

"De blood packets will heal her body and your blood will act as de focus. Anna's de one dat turned y', so your blood is her blood. Add t' dat de fact dat Anna loved y' and dere should be no way she wouldn't come when y' call.

"Keep bleeding over de bag for as long as y' can," the witch instructed as she knelt down at the head of the body bag, chanting again. She held the knife tightly in both hands, eyes closed as she brought it up over her head and plunged the blade—stained with Jeremy's blood—into the dirt.

The teen watched her, still agitating the split skin of his forearm to keep it from closing up and stopping the blood flow, when something in the corner of his eye caught his attention. The blood in the body bag was…bubbling…almost like a furiously boiling pot of water. No sooner had he thought it than the bag and the blood within erupted in flames.

On instinct Jeremy jerked his arm away from the fire, then started forward to douse the flames somehow. "No, don'." Elyse stopped him with a firm hand on his arm. "Not all fire destroys. Dere are some fires dat renew…give new life."

Her eyes rolled back in her head and a new chant poured from her lips, "By fire destroyed, by fire reborn. By fire destroyed, by fire reborn." Elyse continued chanting at a feverish pace on the ground, seemingly oblivious to the vampires watching her. The flames within the body bag were beginning to die down, as was the fire encircling her and Jeremy.

"Call t' her, Jeremy," the witch commanded, eyes now closed.

"Anna…" the young vampire began tentatively, not sure what he was supposed to say, "Anna, please, come back to me."

XXX

It was dark. When had it gotten dark? But dark was good, she decided. The dark didn't hurt. Light hurt. Hurt her skin, hurt her eyes. She'd been scared of the dark as a child, had screamed in terror if she awoke in a darkened room. But then Momma would come in and hold her until she wasn't afraid anymore.

She wasn't afraid of the dark now. The dark was better than the other things she'd seen.

But suddenly the dark changed. It had a feeling now—could darkness have a texture? She felt it on her skin, or where her skin should be, as though she were floating in the gentle waters of a river.

The liquid surrounding her was warm and comforting, but the temperature soon began to change. It went from warm to scalding in mere seconds, sending stabs of pain into every inch of her body.

She wanted to scream, but couldn't find her voice. Wasn't sure she even had a voice anymore.

Then it all came flooding back to her. She was reliving it again. She was reliving what it felt like to burn, only this time she was conscious of it. How the hell did that happen? At least the first time she'd already been dead when the fire consumed her.

"_Anna…Anna, please, come back to me."_

Anna? Who was Anna? Was _she_ Anna? The name seemed familiar to her, but even so who was she supposed to go back to?

Then it hit her. _Jeremy_. Jeremy was calling for her. But from where? The liquid dark was too thick and murky to see him through. But that didn't matter, she had to find him. Jeremy would make everything all right. She could wrap herself in his strong arms and never have to be scared again.

The pain intensified as she followed the sound of his voice, but she didn't care. She'd gladly walk through the fire if Jeremy was waiting for her at the end of it.

XXX

The pentagram and _vevers_ in the ground were now barely lit by dying embers and Jeremy had just about given up hope that this crazy plan had worked. How could he have been so stupid as to believe that he could just spill a few drops of his blood over Anna's burned corpse, ask her to come back, and she'd just pop right back up, safe and sound?

A humorless laugh fell from his lips as he turned away and began violently rolling his coat and shirt sleeves down. "It's not working. And she's not coming back."

Jeremy started toward the edge of the pentagram, blinking back tears, when a rapid motion in his peripheral vision captured his attention.

A head full of dark curly hair had shot up through the burned opening of the body bag, followed by a beautiful, pale face. Two thin black slashes in the face opened to reveal the almond-shaped brown orbs that'd been haunting him for months. Those dark eyes flitted around, taking in their surroundings with confusion. She shuddered, bringing her blood-spotted arms up and wrapping them around her bare torso.

_Anna._

She was alive. She was alive and sitting less than five feet away from him. His chest felt like it would explode with the tide of sheer joy that just the sight of her caused to well up within him. Jeremy rushed to her side, falling to his knees and placing a hand on her bare shoulder, needing the feel of her body here, real and alive and with him while he was awake this time, to believe that this was actually happening.

The instant his skin touched hers, Anna's head snapped in his direction, brown eyes wide. Her name was on the tip of his tongue when she interrupted him, screaming and scrambling desperately backward as though she'd been burned.

**A/N:** Wow!I'm guessing that's not what most people expected to happen when Jeremy and Anna reunited, huh? ;-} Clearly, Anna coming back isn't going to be quite as easy as everyone might've thought, but then again, this is _The Vampire Diaries_ we're talking about here. NOTHING is ever easy, and if it was, why would we watch? So please, don't lose hope for Janna—I love that couple too much to keep them apart for too long. The very next update will have some major interaction between those two, and, be forewarned, a fairly explicit love scene is in the works (if not the next update, the one immediately after that).

The scene where Sheriff Forbes and her deputy are talking about the fingerprints on the knife was my own spin on the doppelgänger situation. Identical twins don't share the same fingerprint, so because Elena and Katherine are identical, but raised in different eras/environments I decided that while they are the same in almost every physical way, their fingerprints should only be a partial match.

Please, please, PLEASE give me some major REVIEWS here. Favs and alerts are always appreciated, but I NEED reviews, people. Tell me what you like, what you don't, if you would like to see something happen, what you don't want to see happen, etc. I now have a full-time job that will seriously deplete my time to write, so if I'm going to keep cranking this stuff out I need feedback from y'all to keep me typing my heart out.

Oh, and no one has answered my question from the last update's author's note about the character and film I referenced that Kevin Williamson was the writer for, so a request for later chaps is still up for grabs if anyone wants to try and guess.

For those who might not know, Voodoo (aka Vodou/Vodun/etc.) is a **REAL** religion. It involves the worship of _loa_ (spirits, saints, gods, what have you) as intermediaries between human devotees and a supreme deity that is too distant and unconcerned to be dealt with directly. Voodoo is actually a blend of traditional African religions and French Catholicism originating from slaves brought to Haiti prior to the Haitian Revolution. Slaves blended their deities with Catholic saints to avoid persecution while still practicing their native religion. The religion eventually spread along with slaves to America, finding a home in cities like New Orleans.

However, my depiction of it here **IS FICTIONAL**. Elyse is a witch/_mambo_ (voodoo priestess) in the style of the show, similar to Bonnie just with a New Orleans flavor. Papa Legba, Damballah Wedo, Marassa, Mait' Carrefour (or Met Kalfu), and Baron Samedi are actual _loa_, but the concept of resurrection in the way I have depicted it is **NOT** something I have come across in research of the religion.

A percentage of the population of New Orleans practices Voodoo, and Vodou is the unofficial religion of Haiti. The horror stories of zombies and voodoo dolls are largely the myths of pop-culture—although "zombies," actually live individuals drugged and under the influence of a _bokor_ (basically a voodoo priest who practices black magic for personal gain), and voodoo dolls, used to hex or aid individuals, are part of the religion. Human sacrifice is not practiced, and while some rituals do involve animal sacrifice, the death is quick and relatively humane—slitting of the throat—when compared with how most slaughterhouses kill animals for meat.

Thanks for reading!

Sassy18


	6. Chapter Six: Blood of My Blood

**Resurrection**

**A/N:** Thanks again for all the great reviews, favs, and alerts! Y'all are the real reason this story got past a single chapter.

Answer to the Kevin Williamson movie reference: "But now y' must tell me, _cara mia_, what did y' get from Deputy Dewey back dere? De suspense is killin' me." 'Deputy Dewey' is a reference to Deputy Dwight "Dewey" Riley (played by David Arquette) from the _Scream_ franchise, the first, second, and fourth films of which were written by Kevin Williamson. I felt it was rather appropriate since _Scre4m_ recently hit theatres.

**Disclaimer:** The only parts of _The Vampire Diaries_ I own are a DVD and soundtrack of the first season.

**Chapter Rating:** Mature (Language, violence, gore, suggestive dialogue, and lemony content)

**Special Thanks:**

**People who reviewed:** SecretNightfall, TheCuteVamp, Replica Velocity a.k.a. X5 714, Terapsina, The Green Eyed Cat, David Fishwick, LunaLight and StarFire Cast, Jorisho, and unclesamslair.

**People who alerted my story:** Mark Question, LunaLight and StarFire Cast, LexzieRulz, Jorisho, Alyssa55555, SmokeyPip, and unclesamslair.

**People who favorited my story:** Mark Question, LunaLight and StarFire Cast, LexzieRulz, Tennyo Ch'ang-O, Jorisho, Alyssa55555, Darkwill0w, and Yourmotherisanargle.

**People who alerted me as an author:** Mark Question, and LunaLight and StarFire Cast.

**People who favorited me as an author:** Mark Question, LunaLight and StarFire Cast, and Jorisho.

**Written While Under the Influence of:** AC/DC-Back in Black, Ryan Star-Losing Your Memory, The Black Keys-Next Girl, Nickelback-I'd Come For You, Shakespeare Sister-Stay, Lady Gaga-Teeth, Rihanna-S&M, Breaking Benjamin-Evil Angel, Pop Evil-Somebody Like You, Snow Patrol-You Are My Joy, Red-Not Alone, Jay Gordon-Slept So Long, Hurts-Stay, Onerepublic-Secrets, Vitamin String Quartet-Your Guardian Angel (Tribute to Red Jumpsuit Apparatus), Florence + the Machine-Cosmic Love, and John Donne's "The Flea."

**Chapter Six: Blood of My Blood**

"_Ye are Blood of my Blood, and Bone of my Bone._

_I give ye my Body, that we two might be One._

_I give ye my Spirit, 'til our Life shall be Done."_

_-Diana Gabaldon, __Outlander__, Scottish Blood Vow _

Anna's shriek echoed throughout the forest, reverberating off trees like a banshee's wail and leaving Jeremy frozen as he stared at her with confusion and hurt in his eyes. She scrambled backward as far as possible within the confines of the fire-warped husk of the body bag, slick congealed blood squishing beneath her frantic fingers and hindering her escape. Her horrified brown eyes never left Jeremy's face as she huffed out short panicked breaths, now cornered at the back of the body bag with her knees drawn up protectively to her bare chest.

"Anna. Anna. _Anna!_" Elyse shouted to get her attention, slowly kneeling down beside the female vampire with her hands raised in plain view to show she meant no harm. Neither Damon nor Caleb dared move for fear of ratcheting up the already thick tension even further.

Almond-shaped brown eyes flitted toward the woman, blinking perplexedly. "E-Elyse?" Anna finally gasped, looking almost as though she'd forgotten how to speak.

"Yes," the witch replied with a comforting smile. "It's okay, Anna. It's all over now. Y' safe."

Anna just stared at her uncertainly, still huddled in a tight ball in the corner of the body bag.

"Remember when I told y' I'd pay y' back one day? I guess t'day was dat day," she continued in a whisper, touching the ruby amulet around her neck for emphasis.

Tears filled Anna's eyes and a relieved sob burst from her lips as the witch's words seemed to finally get through to her. She clamped her arms like a vise around her raised knees, shuddering violently as her breathing accelerated to the point of hyperventilation.

"Anna?" Elyse asked, placing a concerned hand on the girl's shoulders only to immediately draw back and yank off her leather jacket. "Damn it, I was afraid o' something like dis. Get y' coat off," she commanded Jeremy. "Caleb, we need a blood bag _now_." The witch draped her jacket around Anna's torso without even sparing a glance at either young vampire.

Jeremy nearly ripped his coat in two to remove it as he crawled closer. "Afraid of what?" he demanded, dark eyes wide with fear.

"She's goin' into shock. I knew de transition from de other side back t' dis realm wouldn't be easy, but I was hoping her being a vampire might help."

"You knew that something like this was gonna happen to her and you didn't even mention it?" Jeremy hissed accusingly, enveloping Anna's shoulders in his coat and protectively cradling his arms around her.

"Yeah," Elyse spat sarcastically, glaring at him with furious blue eyes, "b'cause I always spend my weekends resurrecting ancient vampires. I've never done dis spell b'fore, so I couldn't possibly know what her reaction would be!"

"If anything happens to her…" the teenage vampire let his threat hang in the air, feeling blood rush to his eyes and his fangs extend.

"Shock isn't fatal. We just have t' keep her warm and get her t' feed t' get her strength back," she snapped, taking the blood packet Caleb handed her and bringing it to Anna's lips. "Anna, y' need t' drink dis. Can y' do dat for me?"

When she didn't respond, Jeremy pulled back from Anna just enough to tug his long-sleeved thermal off over his head and wrap it around her bare legs. He then yanked the blood packet from Elyse's grasp, brought it to his mouth, punctured the flimsy plastic with his own fangs and replaced it before the female vampire's lips. "I've got it from here," he said coldly. His hostile red stare added the words: _You've got two seconds to back the fuck away or I bite you instead. _

"Don't y' dare talk t' her like dat, y' spoiled little-" Caleb angrily stomped toward the huddled trio, but the witch had already complied allowing Jeremy to tend to Anna alone.

"No, it's fine. Let him handle dis," Elyse said, intercepting Caleb with a hand to his chest and drawing him away with her.

A soft sucking sound let them know Anna had begun to feed and Jeremy wrapped his coat tighter around her shaking body, rubbing his hands along her arms and torso to help warm her faster. Within seconds the plastic bag dropped to the ground, drained of every last crimson drop.

"Jer-emy," Anna whispered, still shivering but far less severely than before, and lifted her face to his.

"I'm here," he replied, forcing the anger from his expression as he looked down at her.

She hesitantly raised one slim, pale hand and lightly traced over his features, her coffee-colored gaze intently following along the route her fingers took.

"Is this real?"

The pain and uncertainty in her voice tore at him, but he still managed to respond, his own voice thick with emotion, "Yes."

Tears of relief and joy welled up in her eyes and Anna flung her arms around him, crushing herself against him with every ounce of strength she possessed. The breath Jeremy had been holding ever since she'd screamed in fear of him whooshed out his lungs and he returned her embrace with equal fervor, one arm encircling her back while the other slid under her legs, pulling her into his lap. She burrowed her face in his neck, murmuring his name like a prayer of thanks over and over again as warm tears flowed down his bare chest.

Jeremy pressed a kiss against her forehead and ran his hands soothingly over her back, tears stinging his own eyes as he silently vowed that he'd never allow Anna to be taken away from him _ever_ again.

XXX

Wanting to give the reunited couple some much needed privacy, Elyse and Caleb moved back to the dirt altar and began collecting the items they'd brought with them for the spell.

"Ungrateful lil' _enculé_," Caleb muttered as he roughly slammed shut the water cooler and started toward the SUV with it.

"He's worried about de girl he loves. I'd think y' o' all people could understand and maybe cut him a lil' slack," Elyse hinted, carefully returning the athamé to her now full messenger bag as she walked alongside him.

"Anna's only alive right now b'cause o' what y' did and he knows dat. De fuckin' least he could do is act a lil' appreciative." The vampire gave the water cooler a violent shove into the back of the vehicle, still fuming.

"Hey," she called, reaching out and uncurling his clenched fists, entwining her fingers with his. "Everything worked out, Anna's alive and nobody got hurt. Let's just focus on dat, okay?"

He released a heavy sigh, closing his eyes in an attempt to will the anger away. "I know, I know. I'm overreacting, but after watching what y' went through back dere…"

Elyse pressed her fingers to his lips, silencing his explanation. "It's over. We don't need t' dwell on it," she murmured, rising on tiptoe to kiss him.

Caleb pulled his hand from hers, arms fervently encircling her waist and drawing her against his chest. He immediately deepened the kiss, urging her soft lips open and slipping his tongue inside. But instead of tasting her, the unmistakable flavor of blood bloomed in his mouth and he drew back, thinking he'd accidentally bitten her in his haste to block out the memory of her tortured screams.

The moment Caleb pulled away she went limp in his arms, blue eyes rolling back in her head as dark red blood poured from her nose, trickling in alarmingly fast rivulets over her lips and down her chin.

"Elyse!" he shouted in horror and shock, hurriedly swinging her motionless body up into his arms before she could fall to the ground. As her head lolled onto his chest he noticed more scarlet fluid flowing from her ears as well.

"Elyse, _chérie_, talk t' me!" Caleb shook her gently but she remained non-responsive in his arms.

Panic exploded in his chest and he did the only thing he could think to do. He turned his head toward the clearing where the others were still gathered and bellowed, "HELP! WE NEED HELP HERE!"

XXX

Once it'd become clear that Anna and Jeremy were both okay, Damon detached himself from where Elyse and Caleb stood and returned to Stefan's side. The burns were slowly melding back into his brother's flesh and he appeared to be slowly regaining consciousness.

"Stefan, you back with us?" Damon asked, squatting beside the vampire in question.

The younger Salvatore gave a low groan of pain in response, wincing as the blistered skin on his face pulled with the movement.

Damon stifled a laugh and reached over to help him stand. "I'll take that as a yes."

Stefan hissed in pain once he was on his feet, a wiry arm slung over his brother's shoulders to keep from collapsing. "Jeremy?" he asked, eyes instantly searching the clearing for the young vampire they were both responsible for.

"He's fine. And with _Anna_ right now. The witch actually had good intentions, it seems. Go figure…

"Here," Damon continued, reaching into his jacket, "I swiped a blood packet when the Cajun lovebirds weren't looking. I figured you might want it to help speed things up with those burns."

Stefan recoiled from the pilfered bag of blood Damon held out to him like it was the foulest smelling thing on the planet. "No. _No._ I'll go hunting again later," he replied shaking his head decisively.

The black-haired vampire gave a blasé shrug and tucked the blood bag back into the inner pocket of his leather jacket. "Suit yourself, but hunting is gonna be interesting since you can't even stand on your own."

"I'll manage," Stefan growled as he took a step forward, grimacing in pain the entire way.

Damon was about to deliver another of his patented sarcastic quips when Caleb's booming call for help cut through the otherwise quiet night like a knife.

XXX

The Salvatore brothers hobbled their way to the back of the SUV where the other young vampire was crouched on the ground with the witch slumped lifelessly across his lap.

"What the hell happened?" Damon questioned, brows furrowed as he took in the blood dripping from the dark-haired woman's nose and ears.

"Get in de car and drive us somewhere I can take care o' her," Caleb bit out, pressing his own bleeding wrist to Elyse's open mouth.

"Dude, relax. Give it just a second and she'll be fine," the elder Salvatore explained, lips twitching into a grin.

"Get de fuck in dere and start driving now, damn it!" Caleb screamed, brown eyes wide with anger and dread.

The grin slipped from Damon's face as the seriousness of the other vampire's words sunk in. "Jeremy, come on! We're headed back to the house now!" Damon shouted as he half-dragged, half-carried Stefan around the SUV and helped him into the front passenger seat.

He circled around to the driver's side while Caleb carefully maneuvered himself and Elyse into the back, managing to keep his wrist over her mouth as he did so.

XXX

"Anna, I'm gonna carry you to the car, okay?" Jeremy asked as he shifted forward with the female vampire still on his lap.

She nodded against his chest and tightened her arms around his neck as he stood up with her swaddled form pressed securely to his bare torso. He sped to the SUV, popping open the door to the back and sliding onto the seat. He barely had time to readjust Anna across his lap before the vehicle lurched forward and took off like a shot through the winding forest roads.

"Jesus, Damon where's the fire?" the teen snapped, annoyed as the high speed twists and turns jostled Anna.

"C'mon, _chérie_, open y' eyes for me," Caleb's tear-choked voice answered from behind him.

Jeremy twisted in his seat and found the other vampire cradling the witch's head in one hand as he urged his own lifeblood down her throat with the other. His annoyance immediately died as he noticed the pallor of her skin and the dried blood smeared on the lower half of her face and ears.

"Elyse?" Anna's concerned voice sounded beside his ear as she lifted her face and saw the scene in the very back of the SUV herself.

His throat felt like it was closing up when Jeremy realized the probable cause of what was wrong with her: the spell. She'd done this to herself all to save Anna, someone she was clearly friends with. And just minutes ago he'd been giving her hell about the female vampire going into shock for just a few seconds. If Elyse survived he was going to owe her one _serious _apology… _If_ she survived…

He didn't want to think of how awful he'd feel if she died right there after all she'd done and how he'd acted toward her. Luckily for Jeremy, he didn't have to worry much longer. Elyse's eyes began to flutter beneath their lids and one of her hands almost instinctively reached up and wrapped around Caleb's wrist, pressing it hungrily to her mouth.

"Dat's it, _petite_," Caleb sighed, relief dripping from his words as he gently rested his chin against the top of his girlfriend's head while she fed from his wrist.

Jeremy could see a mirrored emotion on Anna's face as she let herself tiredly settle into place against his chest once again. He couldn't think of a word good enough to describe the feeling of her snuggling closer to his body heat, especially because he could tell where her bare skin touched his that she was much warmer than before. The teen let his hand smooth slowly and rhythmically up and down her back and felt himself genuinely relax for the first time in what seemed like forever. It'd taken him too damn long to realize that this—having Anna right here next to him—was where he'd always been meant to be and he would never be so stupid as to take that fact or Anna herself for granted again.

He had every intention of showing her exactly how he felt about her every day for the rest of forever…if she let him.

XXX

_Madison Heights, Virginia _

Katherine Pierce sauntered up the steps and onto the wide white veranda of a massive Southern Colonial-style house standing alone atop a hill just outside Lynchburg, Virginia. She twisted the overly-ornate doorknob and stepped inside, the sound of loud pop music meeting her ears but not entirely drowning out the hoarse cries of pain emanating from the basement. A smirk played across her mauve lips as the vampire made a beeline for the door leading down to the darkened room.

The sexy jazz singer and muscled cowboy that'd once upon a time been Isobel's playthings—now _Katherine's_ playthings—were in the middle of the room, oh-so-obediently entertaining her houseguest while she'd been away in Mystic Falls. Frank held his former master's head steady as Cherie's gloved hands forced a sprig of vervain into the vampire's mouth, then clamped her jaws shut so she couldn't cough it back up.

"_Merci_, Cherie," Katherine murmured, dismissing the human woman and striding toward the vampire she'd ordered to be tortured.

Isobel hung by her wrists on a rope strung over the wooden rafters with a large metal trough placed underneath her to catch the various fluids dripping off and leaking from the vampire. She appeared to have blacked out from the pain immediately after regurgitating the offending flower.

Well that simply wouldn't do.

The brunette vampire grabbed one of the half-dozen plastic buckets of clear liquid off the floor and flung its contents into the battered and bleeding face of her traitorous descendant. Isobel shrieked as the vervain hit her skin, eating the flesh away like the most caustic of acids. Black veins popped up across the irritated surface of her cheeks as she lurched forward as far as her bonds would allow, snapping her teeth viciously at her tormentor.

"I'm surprised you still have this much fight left in you, Isobel. It's been what, four days? Five? Maybe we should up the intensity of this exercise a bit, just so I know you've gotten the message." Katherine strolled over to the workbench along the back wall, letting her fingers skim teasingly over the assortment of blades and sharpened bits of wood upon it. She lifted a long serrated knife and pretended to examine it for a moment, testing the sharpness against her thumb.

"Hmm," she murmured approvingly, licking the bead of red welling up from her pricked finger as she approached Isobel with the knife in hand. "This one should do nicely.

"Makes me almost wish I'd thought to bring it with me for my little visit with Johnathan Gilbert. That butcher knife I had to improvise with was so dull I had to _really_ shove it in there to get it all the way into his stomach," Katherine continued tauntingly as she dipped the blade into a fresh bucket of vervain, dragging its wet point over the other vampire's face, down her neck and chest—putting just enough pressure to break the skin—before plunging it into Isobel's own abdomen.

"Of course," she began, speaking right over the growls of pain falling from the other woman's lips, "it probably didn't help that I used that knife to chop his fingers off with first. But I didn't exactly have time to stop and sharpen it before I filled his chest with holes," Katherine hissed into Isobel's face as she yanked the blade out and just as quickly shoved it back in.

"Oh! That reminds me. I brought you a little gift," the curly-haired vampire cooed with a smile, leaving the knife embedded in Isobel's stomach as she reached into the front pocket of her skin-tight black jeans, retrieving the large ring that had until recently resided on Johnathan's finger.

Isobel's face contorted with pain and fear at the sight of the blood-encrusted ring and she ducked her head, blackened eyes closing in defeat, but the older vampire's hand shot out and clamped around her cheeks forcing her head back up.

"Open your eyes right now or I'll slice your eyelids off so you can't help but look at me," Katherine commanded, yanking the blade free and holding it up to her eyes.

Isobel reluctantly complied and she continued, "I didn't kill Johnathan because of your betrayal, Isobel. He was dead the moment he agreed to find the device to kill the tomb vampires. You, on the other hand, I _was_ going to allow to live. But now your survival is a bit up in the air, so I suggest you pay rapt attention.

"The time you've spent down here was an opportunity for you to look back and reflect on your mistakes. First, thinking you could hide _anything_ from me. And second, being stupid enough to believe you could then just walk away unscathed.

"My gift is just a little reminder that if you ever try to pursue your own interests above mine again that I can and will destroy everything that matters to you. Johnathan isn't someone you'd really miss, but he's just an example of what's to come. Next it'll be Alaric, and him I'll really have some fun with first before I take that ring off.

"And then," she whispered, putting her lips right next to Isobel's ear. "I will kill Elena. _Slowly._"

Isobel lunged forward, fangs primed to tear out Katherine's throat but the vampire twin of her own daughter moved effortlessly out of the way, chuckling at her futile efforts.

"I think I've made myself clear, don't you? Now all that remains is for you to decide if you can be a good little pawn or if this is where you'd like to die. Don't worry, I'll give you a few more days to think about it." Katherine turned with a dismissive wave and languidly strode over to the stairs, a self-satisfied smirk on her face as she pocketed Johnathan's ring.

The last thing she expected was to hear laughter burst out of her captive.

"What's so funny?" Katherine demanded, annoyance coloring her features as she faced Isobel.

"You, talking like you've got all the time in the world," the other vampire shot back hoarsely, still laughing.

"Did all that vervain fry a few brain cells? I'm a _vampire_. Time is what we've got in spades."

"If my present predicament is any indication, even vampires can run out of time, Katherine." She spat a mouthful of blood on the floor in her direction. "And yours is rapidly growing short."

"Really?" the brunette retorted, a perfect eyebrow arched doubtfully. "Do tell."

"I spent the last six years of my human life doing nothing but research, Katherine. You honestly think I wouldn't do some digging into you?"

For the first time, an expression of fear crossed the tanned planes of the older vampire's face.

"That's right," Isobel continued, a bloodstained grin on her ravaged face, "I know what you're really afraid of. Or should I say _who._ So go ahead and kill me. Try to go after Elena and Ric if you want to, but in the end you won't be able to outrun _him_ anymore. And at least I'll die with the satisfaction of knowing that you won't be far behind me, you selfish bitch."

Katherine just stared at Isobel with wide brown eyes, then blinked and that unconcerned mask slid back into place.

"Maybe. Too bad you won't be around to find out."

With that she sped over to the workbench, grabbed the end of a sharpened broom handle and shoved the point into Isobel's chest.

A soft gasp was all the sound that escaped the vampire's mouth as the life poured out of her body, leaving a decaying gray corpse dangling limply from the ceiling. Katherine stepped back from Isobel, mind working furiously. She hadn't planned on getting rid of that particular asset so soon, but the damned bookworm just couldn't help sticking her nose where it didn't belong.

But that didn't matter. Katherine would manage as she always had. She just needed to be a bit more cautious than usual so that nothing else spiraled out of her control. She couldn't risk having too many pieces out of place this far into the game.

Isobel's dead eyes stared right at her, wordlessly echoing her ominous last words. _You won't be far behind me._ An involuntary shiver danced across Katherine's shoulders but she forced herself to ignore it. She spun on her heel, facing Cherie and the cowboy, Frank.

"_Set this place on fire. I don't want anything to be left. And forget everything you saw and heard down here," _Katherine spoke evenly, nodding her approval when they parroted the instructions of her compulsion.

She hurried up the steps, assuring herself it was the urgency of her plans—_not_ fear—causing her to flee the basement. Katherine forced herself to stop as she hit the third riser, banishing the panic from her mind and calling out to the two humans again, _"On second thought, after you get the fire started make sure neither of you leaves this room alive." _

There, that was much better, Katherine thought with a grin as she leisurely ascended the remaining stairs.

XXX

_Mystic Falls, Virginia_

The heavy wood front door of the Salvatore boarding house rapidly swung open, knob banging into a cream-colored wall as Caleb Arceneaux burst through the entryway with a barely conscious Elyse St. Clair cradled in his arms. He rushed to the plush leather couch before the fireplace and gently laid her across it, crouching on the floor beside her and taking her hand in his.

"I'm fine," the witch managed weakly, trying to smile reassuringly at him but her ashen complexion belied her words.

"Y' were unconscious and bleeding for almost ten minutes. And dat was _with_ vampire blood in your system. Y' most certainly are not _fine_," he growled through clenched teeth—angry with her, himself, and the damned vampire that'd caused all this, but most of all with the situation that rendered him powerless to protect the woman he loved.

Caleb was barely aware of the Salvatores entering the room, only taking notice of Damon when he tapped him on the shoulder. He couldn't help the protective snarl that burst from his throat at the unwanted intrusion as he whipped around and bared his fangs at the black-haired vampire.

"Down there, Cujo," Damon grumbled with a frown, blood packet held out in his hand. "Here, you should drink this. Keep your strength up."

"Thanks," Caleb replied, snatching it away and returning his attention to Elyse.

"There's blankets and pillows in the linen closet just down the hall," the elder Salvatore added in an uninterested tone, pouring himself a drink from the crystal decanter then moving quickly toward the stairs leading to the cellar—trying to dispel the rising sympathy within him along the way.

Stefan watched his brother go with a furrowed brow; if he didn't know any better, he'd have thought Damon was actually affected by the pain of two other people. But he _did_ know better. Compassion was an emotion that'd ceased to exist in the heart of his brother over a century ago. And any hope Stefan had ever harbored that Damon might be capable of changing was always crushed—a point the other vampire consistently drove home, usually via a bloody corpse or two.

His musings were interrupted as Jeremy stepped past the threshold with a barefoot Anna pressed tightly against his side. The teen's thermal and black coat now hung loosely on the female vampire's small frame, sleeves rolled back several times to allow her to hold his hand tightly in both her own while the hem of his shirt fell midway down her pale thighs.

"I'm gonna take her upstairs," the teen whispered to Stefan, nodding to Anna. "Let me know if they need anything, okay?" Jeremy glanced warily over at the pair huddled together before the fireplace, clearly suffering the effects of a guilty conscience where the witch was concerned.

"Yeah," the younger Salvatore promised, managing a grim smile.

"Could you give this back to Elyse for me?" Anna spoke so softly and without looking up that both young men weren't entirely sure she'd actually said anything.

Stefan took the leather bomber she handed him and immediately replied that he would.

"I'd do it myself," she explained almost apologetically, still not meeting anyone's eyes, "but I think I'm the _last_ person Caleb wants to see right now."

"Hey," Jeremy murmured, turning her chin toward him, "she's gonna be just fine, okay? You have nothing to feel guilty about." He stared into the depths of her chocolate eyes, begging her to believe him.

Anna finally nodded and pressed herself closer to Jeremy, but Stefan could see the teen was having a harder time convincing himself. He caught the older vampire staring at him and gave him a look imploring Stefan to do everything he could not to make liar out of him. The spiky-haired Salvatore gave a slight nod and watched the young couple head off up the stairs, Jeremy mouthing a thank-you before they disappeared behind the banister.

Stefan moved gingerly into the living room, the relief of having Jeremy back unharmed lasting all of two seconds before the scent of human blood reached his nose. He could feel the veins branching out beneath his eyes as he watched Caleb feeding from the blood packet Damon had given him, and it honestly took every ounce of restraint in him not to rush over there. But it was the realization that it wasn't the blood bag he really wanted to rip from the other vampire's hands and drain dry—rather the much more tantalizing, warm and very much alive young woman on the couch—that kept him frozen in place.

He clamped his eyes shut and took a deep gulp of air to clear his head of the desire, only opening his eyes once he was sure he had the urge firmly stymied.

"Here. Anna wanted me to give this back to you," Stefan began as he walked stiffly toward the couch, intentionally stopping with the large armrest between him and the woman as he held her jacket out to Caleb. "Will you two be okay alone for a little while?" he asked, immediately retreating to a safe distance from the witch once her boyfriend took the garment from him. "Those burns really took it out of me and I need to feed."

"We're fine. Thank y' for allowing us t' stay here," Caleb bit out, barely contained rage vibrating in his voice. "But we won't be staying much longer, just until Elyse feels up t' being moved."

"I'm sorry 'bout burning y'," Elyse rasped, a truly apologetic expression on her delicate porcelain face. "I was just trying t' stop y' from ruining de ritual."

"Don't worry about it," Stefan replied in a rush as he all but ran to the backdoor in the kitchen, fighting with every step that familiar itch to tear into the flimsy barrier of the witch's neck and drain her blood drop by delicious drop—she was far too weak to fight back and that vampire boyfriend of hers was young, he'd be all-too-easily dealt with. A flick of the wrist would be all it'd take to break his neck, giving him a few unhindered minutes with the woman, or Stefan could just rip Caleb's heart clean out so he could really take his time and savor the kill…

Stefan slammed the door hard behind him, eyes scarlet and fangs glinting in the moonlight as he shot through the woods, sprinting past startled bunnies and squirrels without even a glance. Tonight he needed something big. Big and wild and able to put up a halfway decent fight to ensure he wouldn't end up falling back off the wagon again. Because as Stefan had recently discovered, it was getting increasingly difficult for him to go cold turkey each time he indulged on human blood.

XXX

Jeremy ushered Anna into his bedroom at the Salvatore house, wincing at the mess he'd left behind in his hurry to leave the house with Elyse and Caleb before. He muttered a quick apology and sped through the room, gathering the assortment of clothing scattered on the floor and shoving it hastily into the bottom of his closet.

"You missed these," Anna said with a tiny grin, dangling a pair of his boxers between her thumb and index finger.

Embarrassed, Jeremy snatched the underwear from her and tossed them in with the rest of his clothes. He turned back to her, hands shoved deep into the pockets of his jeans as he watched her take in the room. She ran her fingers over the rumpled bed sheets, slid a palm across the wooden dresser then stopped at the window to peer out at the night sky—all with the same vaguely amazed expression on her face. Reacquainting herself with the world she'd left, he realized with a lump in his throat.

He wanted to say something to her, something to make things better, to take her pain away, but had no earthly idea what the hell he was supposed to say.

It wasn't like he could just open with: _Sorry you got killed because of me, but hey I helped bring you back so that makes things cool between us, right?_ Even he knew that wouldn't go over too well. Jeremy wanted Anna to feel safe and secure around him, to know without a doubt that he'd never let any harm come to her ever again. He wanted to tell her how much she meant to him, how much he'd missed her.

Hell, if he weren't worried that it might be too much too fast for her he'd take Anna in his arms right this instant and never let her go. But the memory of how terrified she'd been in the woods was all too fresh in his mind and Jeremy didn't think he could stand to see her recoil from the very sight of him again.

So he decided to let Anna control the situation for now, he'd wait until she let him know what she wanted him to do. If she wanted to talk, he'd talk, if she wanted him to just be quiet and let her explore the room all night, he'd do that, too. And if she wanted him to walk away and never come near her again, he'd oblige her wishes, even though it'd tear his heart out to do so.

"I think I'm gonna get a shower now. I'm a real mess," Anna announced, turning toward him with that pixie grin he loved on her face, shyly patting her wild hair and chuckling as she pulled free a dried leaf.

It took every ounce of self-control Jeremy possessed not to rush over and kiss her in that moment. But he knew he wouldn't stop at just a kiss.

Jeremy had been too worried about her before for her state of undress to really register in his mind, but now it was all he could think of. How her smooth, pale legs were almost entirely bared by his shirt; the way he could see the clear outline of her breasts through the fabric; and how that adorable grin of hers absolutely begged to have his lips crush into hers. The sight of her standing just feet away looking like some gorgeous exotic nymph sent blood thrumming through his veins like never before, but he was determined not to rush her into anything.

He'd been so selfish with her all this time, but from now on he'd put Anna first.

"Okay," Jeremy replied thickly, all but running into the adjoining bathroom. He needed an excuse to get away from her for a few seconds so he could try to get the thoughts of everything he wanted to do with her under control.

He snagged a fluffy white towel from the cabinet beneath the sink then popped open the glass shower door and twisted the knobs, adjusting the water for her. The teen turned to leave, freezing as the sound of his coat hitting the tile floor reached his ears.

Anna had soundlessly padded into the bathroom after him, and now stood tugging his thermal off over her head, leaving her completely naked in front of him.

Jeremy couldn't help staring at her petite curves as she purposely strode up to him, dark brown eyes boring unabashedly into his as she rose up on tiptoe and kissed him. He was too shocked for a moment to respond—the dual sensations of her soft mouth and hardened nipples grazing his skin banished any semblance of conscious thought—then slowly let his lips move along with hers. She pulled back all too soon for his liking and stepped into the shower stall, the steaming spray instantly plastering her long dark curls to her shoulders.

"Stay with me?" Anna asked softly, never taking her eyes off him.

The plea in her voice was all it took to convince Jeremy she still wanted him as much as he wanted her. Keeping his brown eyes fixed on hers he quickly shed his clothes and stepped into the stall.

Anna's hands trailed up his chest to his shoulders, feeling strong muscles jerk beneath her fingertips as she pulled him up against her under the showerhead. Jeremy immediately wrapped his arms around her, anchoring her bare form to his with one hand on the small of her back, the other winding through her wet locks as he leaned down and kissed her. She tugged gently on the strands at his nape as she pressed harder against him, eagerly opening her mouth for him when his tongue swept over her lower lip.

She felt the growl rumble through his chest as their tongues met and her mouth quirked into a grin as the hand at the small of her back tightened, gluing her torso to his as though he wouldn't be satisfied until he'd pushed her into his body. A giggle bubbled up her throat at the thought that it'd actually be the other way around.

"What's so funny?" Jeremy panted, smiling as he drew back and rested his forehead against hers.

"Nothing. I just missed you. Missed _this_." Anna ran her hands over the arms wrapped securely around her bare torso for emphasis, beaming up at him.

"I'm so sorry," he abruptly apologized, brown eyes filling with regret.

Alarmed by his sudden mood shift, Anna cupped his face in her hands. "You have nothing to feel sorry for. The only thing you should feel is how grateful I am to you for what you did to bring me back." She punctuated her statement with an open-mouthed kiss, tongue teasing his lips apart in an attempt to make the cloud that'd fallen over his expression disappear. "_Very_ grateful."

But the seriousness didn't leave Jeremy's expression with her suggestive words, however it shifted, becoming almost disconcertingly passionate. His fingers threaded themselves even deeper in her hair as his dark brown, nearly black, gaze locked on hers.

"I will _never_ let anything happen to you ever again, Anna."

The ferocity of his promise sent a shudder of equal parts pleasure and trepidation through her and she shifted in his arms, drawing as close to him as possible.

"I'm not going anywhere," Anna whispered, reassuring him both with her eyes and body that he had nothing to fear. His lips crashed into hers, cementing both their promises beneath the streaming water.

XXX

Elyse was on her feet and shrugging into her leather bomber with Caleb standing an arm's length away, protectiveness practically radiating off him as his dark gaze never once wavered from her, when Damon walked back into the spacious den. All traces of blood were gone from her skin, yet she still looked weak and tired—the usually revitalizing effect of consuming vampire blood oddly absent from her features.

"You get over that house being dropped on you yet?" he asked, smirking as he refilled his Scotch and refusing to linger on just how much the young vampire reminded him of himself 145 years ago.

"It'd take more dan dat t' get me t' turn my toes up and die," the witch responded, shooting her boyfriend a warning look as he instinctively shifted closer to her.

"Good to know. Where'd Stefan get off to?"

"He said something about needing t' hunt and headed out into de woods," Elyse answered the elder Salvatore.

"Well bunnies beware, big bad Stefan's back on the prowl," Damon joked, drowning his relief with a mouthful of amber liquid.

"Much as I'd like t' stay and continue exchangin' witty one-liners, we need t' be going. But could y' give Anna dis for me, please?" the witch requested, handing the black-haired vampire a folded piece of hotel stationery.

He pursed his lips, his first instinct to open it but he ultimately shoved it into the back pocket of his jeans with a nod.

"Thanks." She turned to leave, Caleb immediately taking her hand as she reached him.

"Hey," Damon called after her reluctantly. "Thank you. For what you did back there for Anna. She didn't deserve to die."

"Y're welcome, Damon," she replied, an expression of slight surprise on her face as she turned back to face him, "although, it's not like y' actually care or anything, right?" Elyse gave him a disturbingly knowing grin as she and Caleb exited the house and disappeared into the night, arms encircling each other's waists.

Damn, he _hated_ witches, too nosy and judge-y for their own good.

XXX

Elyse managed to make it to the bottom of the front steps before her feet gave out under her and Caleb swept her up into his arms, wordlessly rushing his girlfriend into the SUV and switching on the radio to prevent anyone from eavesdropping on them.

He immediately rolled up the sleeve of his leather jacket, exposing his wrist to feed her his blood again.

"Don'," she began, grabbing his forearm and cutting off his motions. "I'm fine, just tired."

"_Stop_ saying dat," Caleb demanded in a harsh whisper, jerking free of her hand. He glared off into the night, clenching both hands around the steering wheel—every tendon visibly standing out beneath his skin with the strain—before shifting into drive and gunning the engine. "Y're not fine, damn it!" The vampire barely restrained himself from shouting the words at her as he pulled out of the driveway.

"It's taking more and more blood just t' keep y' alive every time now. And soon even dat won't bring y' back." He stared straight ahead, jaw set and eyes unblinking—holding back tears, she realized.

"Okay, I'm not fine," Elyse conceded, running a comforting hand over his shoulders, feeling how stiff the muscles were. "But I can't afford t' look weak in front o' a bunch o' vampires we don' know. Especially vampires dat know Katherine Pierce," she added in a whisper.

The only response was the loud buzz of the wheels running over the bumps marking the shoulder of the road then Caleb bit out through clenched teeth, "_Katherine_ is here?"

"She _was_ here," the witch hedged. "I'm not sure if she is anymore. Jeremy's memory o' her wasn't very specific."

Caleb let out a harsh sigh, running a hand roughly through his hair as he continued staring too intently at the road, refusing to look at her. "Okay," he began, voice marginally calmer, "doesn' matter if Katherine's here or not. B'cause we won't be. We'll pack up and get de hell outta here tonight b'fore she even knows we were here."

"We're not leaving yet," Elyse retorted simply.

"Why de hell not?"

"Dere's another witch here dat's mucking things up. She's de reason Anna got killed."

"Lemme guess, de great all-fuckin'-knowing _loa_ want y' t' have a lil' chat with her and set her straight?" Caleb questioned bitterly.

"Dey want me t' just talk t' her, _I_ wanna do a bit more dan talk," she answered, blue eyes churning with anger. "We won't stay dat much longer, okay? I just have t' do a few things here den we'll go back home."

When he didn't reply, she continued, "And I promise t' be a good girl and let y' be as overbearin' and suffocatingly protective as y' want till we do." Elyse held up three fingers in the Girl Scouts' salute, grinning at him.

That got him to crack a smile, but it quickly faded away as Caleb turned to look at her, brown eyes pleading, and confessed, "I keep thinking dat de next time I won't be able t' get t' y' quick enough and y'll die right dere in front o' me b'cause I wasn't fast enough.

"I can't lose y', Elyse. I'd die first."

She swallowed a lump in her throat at the raw anguish in his voice, it combined with the fact that he'd called her by her name and not his usual flirty term of endearment almost convincing her to abandon her plans and let him take her back home to Louisiana. But she forced that urge down, her place in events here too clear in her mind to ignore—despite whatever she might want to do to prevent the man she loved from feeling more pain because of her.

Instead the witch reached out and ran her fingers over his right hand on the steering wheel, pulling it away and bringing it to her lips. "Y' won't lose me. Ever," she promised against his skin, sealing her words with a kiss.

Caleb sighed and she could feel the tension begin to leave his body, smiling reassuringly up at him as his fingers wove between hers and held tight.

Elyse carefully controlled her expression until his eyes returned to the road, blinking back tears and praying that she wouldn't be made a liar.

XXX

Stefan wrenched his mouth away from the neck of his kill with a satisfied growl, allowing the limp body to fall to the ground. He wasn't even sure what the now unrecognizable lump of twisted fur and bone before him had originally been, he'd been too wrapped up in the hunt and subsequent feeding to notice. All he remembered was a rumbling snarl, a flash of sharp teeth and desperately slashing claws against his chest before he pounced, snapping the legs but not killing it so that it still struggled against him as he fed.

That was the best part, the struggling. It kept the blood pumping so perfectly.

Some part of him knew he shouldn't think that, didn't that make him bad? But Stefan couldn't quite remember why he should feel that way. He staggered to his feet, too drunk on fresh blood to rebuke himself for the thought. He'd do it later, Stefan promised himself. He'd brood and call himself a monster like always, but right now he couldn't bring himself to do it. Couldn't he just this once enjoy himself? It's not like he'd killed a person after all.

The younger Salvatore started back toward the house and stumbled on the twisted carcass of another dead animal. Blinking in confusion he looked behind him, confirming that there were in fact two instead of the one he remembered hunting. But as Stefan turned he spotted a third. And then a fourth. And a fifth.

His blood ran cold as he realized that the entire clearing around him was dotted was mutilated animal corpses, the tell-tale bites on their throats confirming he was the one behind the slaughter. Stefan racked his foggy memory, trying desperately to recall exactly what he'd done. But all that was there was a terrifying blank.

He remembered this feeling. He'd had a similar experience just after he'd been turned, waking up in an entire house full of dead bodies and only recollecting the deaths of one or two of the occupants. Back then he'd killed not just to feed, but for the thrill of it. Ripping into a warm body just as much to hear them scream as to quell the ache of hunger.

Stefan ran a shaky hand through his hair, only for it to get caught in his spiky locks. He pulled his hand free, realizing in horror that it was coated in blood all the way up to his forearm. The other hand was no better, blood-soaked to his elbow with tiny tufts of fur clinging to the wet skin.

He wiped his hands reflexively on his shirt, closing his eyes in disgust at the feel of the torn fabric clinging wetly to his chest.

The shrill ring of his cell phone cut through the night and he immediately dug it out of his pocket, bloody fingers leaving red smudges across the LED screen. _Elena._ A harsh sigh left his lips at the sight of her name. It was a perfect _coup de grace_ after what he'd just done.

Seeing what he really was in sharp contrast to who he pretended to be. The good, in control vampire worthy of building a happy, quasi-normal life with the woman he loved.

Frowning, Stefan let the call go to voicemail and shoved the phone back into his jeans. He didn't deserve to even speak to her right now. Maybe he would later, when he'd scrubbed the blood from his body and got himself under control.

Stefan trudged back to the house trying to ignore the voice inside his head taunting him about control being as much a fallacy as him ever truly cleaning the blood from his hands. Sure, his skin would come clean eventually, but that was only on the surface. Beneath his skin the stains of his sins remained, unable to be washed away so easily.

The dark part of him that relished the excessive violence of the kill and that he thought he'd finally suppressed after decades of rigorous self-denial and commitment felt its shackles weaken that much more as Stefan disappeared into the forest.

XXX

Jeremy strode blindly into his bedroom, Anna's arms and legs tightly encircling his torso with his mouth resolutely fused to hers. He carried her to the bed in the center of the room, stopping when he felt the mattress against the front of his thighs. Reaching back behind his neck, he gently unlocked her tight grip in his hair, urging her down onto the soft bedding.

She was absolute perfection against the sheets. Damp dark curls fanning out over cream-colored sheets, pale olive skin luminescent as lingering beads of water caught the light and made her entire body glisten like an opal.

God, what had he ever done to deserve _her_?

Despite the incredible temptation to do otherwise, they hadn't made love in the shower. Instead, Jeremy had merely helped Anna wash away the caked on blood, dirt, and ash from her skin—the simple intimacy of taking care of her while watching her relearn his body as he committed every inch of her nude form to memory was almost enough for him. Almost.

He _wanted_ her. More than he could ever remember wanting anyone or anything before. Even the crippling ache of hunger was nothing compared to the craving coiling low in his abdomen at the sight of her spread across his bed.

It was almost frightening, the intensity of his desire for her. And for the first time ever Jeremy found himself worried that he might actually hurt her. Before when he'd made love to her as a human he had no fear whatsoever of hurting her; Anna could literally lift him off his feet with one hand so how could he possibly hurt her?

But Jeremy wasn't human anymore. He was a vampire, and Damon had warned him about how easy it'd be to lose control of himself around people he felt strongly for.

And there was no one Jeremy felt more strongly for than Anna right now.

But as he stared down at her looking so gorgeous, small and feminine compared to him, Jeremy was torn. He wanted her, and the longing burning in her fathomless brown eyes left no doubt in his mind that she wanted him. But could he give in without hurting her? He'd sworn that he'd never let any harm come to her ever again, and it would utterly kill him to be the one to hurt her yet again.

Anna apparently sensed his indecision and reached out for him, pulling him halfway on top of her and kissing him in a way that expressed far better than words ever could that she wanted and trusted him implicitly, and Jeremy was determined to deserve that sort of devotion.

He opened his mouth to her, lightly brushing his tongue against hers before retreating from her embrace with a parting nip to her full lower lip. Anna stared up at him, eyes like dark coffee, and let her arms drop to the mattress over her head, daring him to make the next move. And Jeremy had no intention of disappointing her.

The young vampire let one hand slide teasingly up her thigh, watching with great satisfaction as her breasts began rapidly heaving beneath the flimsy barrier of the towel wrapped around her torso. Jeremy paused with his fingers over the knot holding the towel in place, drawing out the anticipation between them until it was almost painful, and slowly pulled the end free, leaving Anna completely exposed under him.

He hovered over her body just staring for what seemed like an eternity, eyes darkening as she wriggled trying to alleviate some of the need vibrating through her. Anna clenched the sheets in her fists to keep herself from reaching for him and putting an end to his scrutiny. Although the unfulfilled desire to touch him was driving her insane, she'd let him do this at his pace. For now.

Jeremy framed her small but perfectly curved hips with his hands, relishing the feel of her smooth skin as he trailed his palms slowly upward, enveloping her narrow waist. A grin twisted his lips at her gasp of pleasure and he pressed a deliberate kiss to her bellybutton, nuzzling the soft flesh there and indulging in her sweet scent.

He traced a blazing path up her torso with his mouth, determined not to leave even a single inch of her flesh untouched by his lips or tongue. Jeremy stopped just before he reached her breasts, waiting for Anna's gaze to fall on him before he continued; the moment her brown eyes met his he cupped both supple mounds in his hands, fingers gently massaging her sensitive flesh and loving the way she arched into his touch, soft moans of his name tumbling from her lush lips.

Her reactions were making it extremely hard for him to take this slowly, but Jeremy refused to think of his own desires. He wanted to give her as much pleasure as possible before feeling even an ounce for himself.

Speaking of Anna's pleasure, he thought with a wicked smirk as his mouth replaced his hand on her right breast, from the sound of the strangled scream that echoed around him at the action, Jeremy was doing a damn good job. A low growl rumbled through his chest when Anna curled her fingers into his hair, tugging the strands none-too-gently to urge him on. He was more than happy to oblige, sucking hard on her pebbled nipple then lightly scraping his teeth across it—earning another painfully pleasurable yank on his hair.

Jeremy drew back to pay the same attention to her other breast, but the expression on Anna's face stopped him cold. Her head was thrown back in pleasure, full lips slightly parted allowing him a glimpse of her fangs, that familiar dark cascade of veins spilling down her cheeks. But that wasn't what had really shocked him, it was the way seeing her like that affected him—he felt blood flood his eyes, among other places, and his own fangs extend as a confusing blend of bodily hungers rushed through him.

Her closed eyes popped open and, catching sight of his expression, Anna used her grip in his hair to bring his mouth to hers. He maneuvered himself completely onto the bed on top of her, his half-clothed form pressing into her nude one. Her lips crashed into his with bruising force, tongue insistently pushing past his lips and sensually caressing his. Jeremy felt her hand sneak between their bodies down to his waist, impatiently yanking the towel covering his lower half away. He grinned against her lips at her eagerness, only to almost jump out of his skin as her fingertips trailed lightly over the veins on his cheek.

Jeremy pulled slightly away from her, bracing his weight on his forearms as he stared down at her in question.

"Doesn't it feel good to you?" Anna asked, a frown creasing her brow.

A chuckle burst from his lips as he leaned forward to touch his forehead to hers. "Good doesn't even begin to describe it," he told her truthfully, focusing an intense brown gaze on her. "It was like you were touching me everywhere at once."

That was a _huge_ fucking understatement, Jeremy thought, watching as the frown disappeared and Anna's lips curled into a satisfied smile. He'd felt her simple touch on his cheek shoot like a lightning bolt down his spine, arcing outward through every extremity in an electric surge of pleasure unlike anything he'd ever felt before.

Watching her face carefully, Jeremy lifted one hand waiting until the veins reappeared on her cheeks and experimentally traced along the length of them with just his fingertips. Her mouth fell open in a silent cry of pleasure and the hand at the back of his neck slipped down to his shoulders, fingernails digging into his skin. Anna's reaction nearly sent him into a frenzy—his free arm shot out and snaked around her back, roughly driving her body up to his as his hips instinctively bucked against her, pressing his hardness into her thigh.

They both gasped at the sensation, and Anna ground her pelvis against his muscular abdomen, desperate for some release from the building tension. Jeremy dropped his head into the crook of her neck, letting out a hiss of pleasure against her skin, lips opening of their own accord. He'd pressed his fangs against her flesh and was about to sink them into her pale throat before he even realized what he was doing.

Jeremy immediately recoiled in a mix of disgust and horror, Anna blinking up at him in confusion.

He didn't want to confess what he'd almost done to her and ruin the moment so he crushed his lips to hers, hands running hungrily down her torso to her thighs, hastily hooking her legs around his waist. Anna linked both arms around his neck, urging him on.

Jeremy tore his lips from hers as he pushed into her tight warmth, releasing a deep groan of pleasure and restraint at the feeling of her silken walls enveloping his hardened flesh inch by incredible inch. Her legs squeezed his hips forcing him deeper and he gritted his teeth against every instinct in his body demanding that he throw caution to the wind and fuck her senseless.

He braced his arms on the mattress, holding his body above hers as he began to move within her. Jeremy had thought it'd be safer if he weren't so close to her, but the new angle allowed him to watch as they made love, chipping away a bit more of his already fragile control as he slammed harder into her. Anna writhed beneath him, perfect alabaster breasts heaving as she rolled her hips in time with his thrusts into her wet core. Her chocolate brown eyes were glazed over with pleasure as they stared into his and he felt his fangs press into his lower lip.

Realization flashed in her eyes and she arched her neck, dark gaze holding his, and moaned, "Go for it."

Jeremy clamped his eyes shut, an agonized groan escaping his lips.

God was punishing him. That's what this was. Definitely.

It wasn't bad enough that Anna had never looked sexier than she did now, naked and glistening with sweat as they made love, but she had to echo his own words from the night he'd told her to feed on him as she offered her neck to him. Granted, some twisted and deeply male part of him thought it was the hottest fucking thing he'd ever heard—her giving him permission to bite her during sex—but the rest of him was sickened at the thought of it.

He _loved_ Anna and he would _never_ feed on her, especially not when he'd promised never to hurt her again.

Although, that other part of him argued, hadn't he enjoyed it when Anna fed on him that night in the kitchen? After the initial fear had passed—Jeremy had had no idea at the time if she would leave him alive once she was finished—it had felt amazing. Sure, there'd been pain, but it'd been a pleasurable pain, akin to fingernails digging into his back hard enough to leave scratches or a too hard nip on his lip during sex. Those situations where the lines between pain and pleasure blurred just enough to create a single, intensely erotic sensation.

His thoughts were interrupted as he felt himself being flipped onto his back. Jeremy opened his eyes to find the little pixie vampire settling herself on his lap. A grin twitched the corners of her berry lips upward as she pressed her hands to his sculpted chest, keeping him flat on his back and holding herself up.

"Maybe it'd help if I showed you how good a bite from another vampire can feel first," Anna whispered, eyes sparkling with mischief.

Before a word could pass his lips, those beautiful brown eyes of hers turned red and she lunged at his throat, razor-sharp fangs easily piercing his flesh as her lips locked over the wound. Jeremy jumped, more in shock than anything else, letting out an instinctive cry as he tangled a hand in her hair. Just as when he'd been human, there was pain but it was tempered by an overwhelming amount of pleasure surging through his body, making him even harder as he arched toward her, tipping his neck back for easier access.

Anna dug her teeth deeper into his skin and he couldn't help the shout that burst from his lungs, sure the entire house now knew exactly what was going on. Jeremy had never been a particularly masochistic person before, but if it always felt this way when Anna bit him then he wanted her do it every single day of his life. He felt her grin against his neck at his reaction and she shifted in his lap, aligning her core with his erection.

Jeremy allowed one hand to slip down to her hips, determined not to move the other from Anna's hair where it kept her mouth pressed to his throat, gripping the small of her back tightly as she teased his tip with her entrance.

"Anna…" he growled, begging or warning her to move even he wasn't sure.

With a satisfied sigh, Anna slid down onto his length, sheathing him completely inside her in a single fluid stroke. She reluctantly detached her mouth from his neck, leaning back so he could watch her ride him.

Jeremy tried to sit up but she kept her hands pressed firmly against his chest, intentionally holding him down. He wanted to be irritated but could only look up at her in awe as she licked his blood from her lips, fangs disappearing as her eyes returned to normal. She gently rocked her hips against him, starting out maddeningly slow and building in tempo with each movement. He gripped her hips in both hands, yanking her down harder onto him in time with his thrusts.

Her head fell back in pleasure and he grinned, seizing the opportunity and rolling her under him. Anna's dark eyes flew open, fear bleeding into desire as she took in the crimson eyes and bared fangs of her lover looming over her. Without taking her eyes off his she brushed the hair back from her neck and repeated the words that instead of paralyzing him with shock as before, now filled him with undeniable desire, "Go for it, Jeremy. I won't break."

He launched himself at her neck, fangs sinking into the beautiful, fragile column of her throat. Her blood poured into his mouth, sweet and warm and tinged with lust—so unlike how it'd tasted when he'd been human—as Jeremy sucked greedy mouthfuls down. His erection twitched inside her as Anna cried his name and buried a hand in his hair, holding him to her as he'd held her, the fingernails of her free hand raking down his spine and eliciting a shudder.

He reared back and thrust into her at the same time as he plunged his fangs deeper into her neck, growling as her fingernails bit into his shoulder. Jeremy wrenched his mouth from her throat, staring down into her desire-filled gaze with her blood shining on his lips. Anna used the hand in his hair to urge him down to kiss her, their tongues immediately meeting to taste blood and one another.

The mutual feeding drove them both into a frenzy, groping, kissing, nipping, and scratching as their passion reached its peak. They were heedless of the twin trails of blood from the bites on their necks dripping down onto both their chests, their two bloods mingling into one in an immortal promise.

Jeremy shoved himself into her as hard as he could on every stroke, all restraint long gone as he pushed his vampire body to the very limits of its strength to pleasure Anna. She pressed her lips to his with a wild cry, tongue stroking his as she bucked her hips roughly into his. He let his hands slither down her body, fondling her breasts before moving down to grab her ass and using his hold to shove her into his thrusts.

Anna gasped into his mouth, body tightening and pulsing around his hard length as the pleasure inside her built to a fever pitch. Jeremy kept his open lips pressed to hers, sharing ragged breaths as his own release barreled down on him. He slipped a hand down to her core, fingers sliding through the slick folds to rub the sensitive nub he knew would send her into oblivion.

He was not disappointed.

Anna's body arched into his, fingernails digging into his strong shoulders until he felt blood trickle down his back and she screamed his name at the top of her lungs as her climax ripped through her. Jeremy dropped his head to her neck, growling her name as he buried himself deep inside her core one last time and came. Complete and total release exploding through every fiber in his being as Anna's wet heat clamped down on him, holding him within her just as her arms held him against her.

Jeremy lifted his head from her neck, knowing this was the perfect moment to tell her he loved her for the first time but before he could get the words out Anna slid her fingers into the sweat-damp strands of his hair and guided his lips to hers. The kiss was soft, lips barely brushing one another's in a loving caress that sharply contrasted their intense lovemaking.

Afterward, he collapsed against her, exhaustion overtaking them both as he drew the sheet over their bodies and they fell asleep, both truly at peace for the first time in their lives, in each other's arms.

**A/N:** Well, that was my first ever sex scene! I've written a few intense make-out scenes before but nothing that went all the way. So please tell me: too much, not enough, more detail, less detail, too flowery, not raunchy enough? I prefer to keep things sexy without resorting to overused, coarse terminology, it's just not my thing.

Anyway… Let me know what you guys think of the REAL reunion of Anna and Jeremy, since the first was sorta a tease on my part. ;-} Also, how about Katherine? I'd planned on having her kill Isobel even before Isobel died in the show, so I hope my version was an interesting alternate take on events. And what about Damon and Stefan's situations this chapter? I kinda like exploring Dark Stefan but not so much Good Damon, he's so much more fun as Anti-Hero Damon, don't ya think?

Elyse and Caleb aren't done yet but they probably won't stick around for the whole story, but before they leave they get to have some fun with Bonnie—whom I've decided I completely _hate_ now—and also shed some light on some other character's situations. Vague enough for ya? lol

Please, please, PLEASE REVIEW people! Favs and alerts are all well and good but I REALLY find reviews to be the most constructive. I don't want to withhold updates unless I get a specific number, but let's say if I don't get like 10 or more considerable reviews—as in more than one line—on this chapter I'll devote more time to my other fics instead of working on this.

Oh! Again I made a reference in this chapter. I listed John Donne's "The Flea" as one of my influences for this chapter, if anyone can guess the line I augmented from his poem and put in Jeremy and Anna's love scene I'll definitely do a request from them. That poem is AMAZING, especially if you know what it's really about! ;-}

Thanks for reading!

Sassy18


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